CHAMPAIGN, ILL. - The University of Illinois celebrated Dad's Day Saturday, but as students paid tribute to the men who raised them and taught them right from wrong, the unranked Illini gave the No. 5 Badgers a lesson on how to run the football.
Behind sophomore quarterback Isiah Juice"" Williams and junior running back Rashard Mendenhall, Illinois (3-0 Big Ten, 5-1 overall) gashed the Wisconsin defense for 289 rushing yards en route to a 31-26 victory at Memorial Stadium.
The loss marked the second consecutive week Wisconsin (2-1, 5-1) surrendered more than 200 yards on the ground.
UW head coach Bret Bielema said he expected his defense to perform better after the unit's poor outing a week earlier against Michigan State. But the Badgers once again missed key open field tackles Saturday, allowing the Illini to roll to their first victory over a top-10 opponent since 1989.
""The biggest thing our guys have got to do is, fundamentally, they have to tackle better,"" Bielema said. ""The guys in blue are pretty good, as well. They're strong runners. They can make you miss tackles, but as a coach you can't accept those things.""
The Badgers once again struggled against a spread offense as Illinois mixed option plays and short shuffle passes to keep UW off balance.
Junior cornerback Allen Langford described the difficulty of stopping the athletic Illini attack.
""It's really challenging when you have a quarterback that can run like Juice [Williams] ... and then you have the second or third leading running back in the Big Ten,"" Langford said. ""We [weren't] disciplined, so they had a lot of big plays.""
Williams totaled 92 rushing yards while Mendenhall averaged 8.4 yards per carry during his 160-yard, two-touchdown performance.
""They played a good game,"" senior defensive tackle Nick Hayden said. ""They ran that option scheme very well. Everybody's got their responsibilities and if we do it, we stop it, but today we didn't do it a couple times, and it hurt us.""
UW's inability to stop the run hurt them all game, but particularly in the fourth quarter.
After Tyler Donovan's second interception of the game, the Illini marched 71 yards in nine plays to take a 31-19 lead, and ultimately put the game out of reach for the Badgers.
Illinois did not throw a single pass on the drive, which freshman backup quarterback Eddie McGee capped with a five-yard touchdown run.
While the Illini looked like Wisconsin teams of old - slowly wearing down their opponent's defense with a physical rushing attack - the UW ground game virtually disappeared in the second half.
With the Badgers trailing the entire game and sophomore running back P.J. Hill battling a groin injury, senior quarterback Tyler Donovan completed 27 of 49 passes for 392 yards, all career highs.
The Badgers mustered only 127 rushing yards - more than 70 yards less than their average entering the game.
""If they're shutting your run game down, you've got to be ready to come out and throw,"" Donovan said. ""I was just going with the flow of the game and what they were giving us.""
Donovan said he did not think Illinois played more physical than the Badgers up front.
""Our team is a pretty physical team,"" Donovan said. ""I think it's just us taking care of our things and staying on blocks and finishing.""
Despite the recent defensive struggles, junior linebacker DeAndre Levy said the unit had the ability and the leadership to rebound.
""It's nothing that can't be corrected,"" Levy said. ""I know it's kind of old to keep saying that each week ... but it's just little things. One of these weeks something's going to have to click.
