MADISON, Wis. —Illinois got the initial Big Ten win of the season on Saturday afternoon. The Fighting Illini defeated Wisconsin 34-10 at Madison to win for the first time in 2002. In the game, the Fighting Illini scored 17 points with three steals to improve up to 1-1 in the conference and 4-1 overall.
Illinois kept Wisconsin to just two rushing yards and two interceptions. Its Illini defense put their mark on the contest in the 3rd quarter by holding Wisconsin to just 10 yards, zero completions, and no first downs. Illinois completely dominated the game. They outscored Wisconsin Badgers 17-0 in the third quarter.
The Illini offensive line finished their game on 304 yards with a balanced attack consisting of 167 passing yards and 147 yards rushing during the victory. Tommy DeVito The majority of his passes. Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz went 17-30 with two interceptions and 206 yards.
Chase Brown rushed for 129 yards and scored a touchdown, extending his Illinois record streak of 100 consecutive games to six. He’s the first player in Illinois history to begin his season playing in five straight 100-yard games.
After Wisconsin had taken an early lead, Illinois took advantage of Kendall Smith’s Interception by the third player of the season, which allowed for a shorter playing field for his third interception, which set up a fast lot for him the Illini offense.
Seven plays for 16 yards and 16 yards, the Orange and Blue tied the game 7-7 when DeVito scored his second touchdown on the rushing field of the year, only one yard.
The Badgers returned to a lead, but an intercept from Tahveon Nicholson, The first goal in his professional career, brought his career on the map and put the Illini defense back into action on Wisconsin territory. An 18-yard Chase Brown run pushed Illinois towards the final zone. The Illini moved towards the finish line, and DeVito scored his second one-yard QB keeper goal for the Illini, an advantage of 14-10.
In the second half, with an advantage of four points at halftime, the Illini scored a total of 116 yards – including 80 running and passing during the first 30 minutes. DeVito scored 10-13, with two touchdowns on the rushing field, while Brian Hightower caught five of his season’s best balls for 59 yards before the break.
The Illinois offense was able to kick back into gear for the start of the second quarter. Two consecutive completions led to Pat Bryant. With his first two catches that day and an extra fourth-down conversion, Isaiah Williams continued to drive. 20-yard finalization to Michael Marchese. The Illini was within the five before DeVito reached the end zone via the 1-yard mark the third time he ran for a touchdown of the game, which increased the lead to 21-10 at the beginning of the third period.
Marchese later recovered an errant kickoff to place Illinois in the red zone. Illinois offensive in red and Caleb Griffin. The field goal was 44 yards to make the most of the takeaway. The second-longest field goal of Griffin’s career, his Illini advantage increased to 24-10 after nine minutes left during the 3rd.
The Illini defense forced its 3rd straight three-and-out, and Brown was able to break free following Illinois play, reaching the final zone for only the second time in the afternoon. After Brown’s touchdown run of 49 yards, the Illini increased ahead by 31-10 at the midpoint of the 3rd quarter.
After the Wisconsin mistake on downs, Brown and Reggie Love III Moved the ball to the red zone again, the ball was pushed into the red area, and a field goal of 31 yards by Griffin scored 24 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The Illini’s most significant winning margin at Madison in the last four years, as well as the third-largest in the series’ history.
Illinois will return to Memorial Stadium next Saturday for the match against Iowa at 6:30 p.m. CET.
TEAM NOTES
- Illinois increases its record to 4-1 for the season. This is the first time 4-1 has been a regular feature for the Illini since the 2015 season.
- It’s the first Illinois win on the field in Madison Madison since 2002. I am breaking an eight-game losing streak.
- Bret Bielema His career record rises to 9-8. The Illinois record was above .500 at first since he won the first game of his career as the team’s head coach.
- Bielema was the first Illinois director to be a winner on his first visit to Madison following Lou Tepper in 1992.
- The three Big Ten road wins in his first two seasons are the highest since Lou Tepper won five Big Ten road games during the 1992-93 seasons he was playing in.
- During his first two seasons, Bielema has become the first coach in Illinois history to win on the field at Penn State and Wisconsin.
- Bielema is currently 4-3 against his fellow players in the Big Ten West in his first two seasons at Illinois.
- Bielema has become the only Big Ten coach since John Pont (Northwestern) in 1975 to be able to defeat the same opponent who had previously won a conference championship.
- Illinois scored more than thirty points at Madison in the first game since November. 9 and for only the fifth time.
- The victory margin of 24 points was the third-highest margin in an Illini victory in Madison.
- It’s the most significant win margin by the Illini in a Big Ten road game since beating Purdue with 34-points in November. Seven on the 7th of November, 2015.
- The Illinois offense was 5-for-5 on the defensive side of the ball this afternoon with three touchdowns and two field goals.
- Illinois kept Wisconsin to only two yards of rushing, one of the few yards that the Badgers have run for in their home games following their defeat by just 12 yards in November. 3 in the game against. Ohio State.
- The Illini defense has given up 169 rush yards on 112 runs in the last four games (1.5 yards per rush).
- Illinois has scored 17 of the 34 points off three Wisconsin mistakes.
- Illinois has at least one interception during all five contests this season. It also has interceptions in eight consecutive games that go back to last season.
- The Illini defense kept the Badgers to only 10 yards during the 3rd quarter. They did not permit a pass completed or a first-down.
- The Illini defeated the Badgers to a score of 4-for-14 on third down conversions this morning. In Illinois, the four wins they have, they have a percentage that is 16.4 percent.
- In 2022, the Illinois schedule features rematches against seven teams the Illini played in Bielema’s debut season. Through two of these games, Virginia and Wisconsin, The Illini are two-to-two and have turned the results significantly in their favor by completing a 49-point turnaround against UVA and a 48-point turnaround against. UW, for a total of 97 points.
ILLINOIS NOTES
- Today’s captains today: WR Isaiah Williams, LB Tarique Barnes, DB Sydney Brown, OL Alex Palczewski.
- OL Alex Palczewski began for the 57th time in his career, extending the Illinois record of career-long starts. Palczewski is just two steps away from breaking the Big Ten record of 59 by Minnesota offensive lineman Connor Olson from 2016-21.
- RB Chase Brown rushed for 129 yards during the current game, adding to his record national-leading total of 733 yards.
- Brown has been able to rush to 100 yards over six consecutive games, breaking his program record.
- He’s also the first Illini returning to start an entire season with five straight 100-yard games.
- Brown played in his 11th consecutive 100-yard game and the fourth-highest in the program’s history.
- QB Tommy DeVito completed 18 of his passes for 167 yards.
- DeVito also scored three touchdowns, breaking the program record for running touchdowns by quarterbacks.
- WR Isaiah Williams received seven passes that threw the same amount of yards. Brian Hightower Received five keys for the distance of 59 yards.
- DB Kendall Smith, The defender, recorded his third interception of the season within the 1st quarter. All three interceptions have been this season.
- Illinois free safety players have intercepted eight passes in the past 13 games.
- DB Tahveon Nicholson recorded his first interception of the season in the second quarter.
- Six times, he is one of the Illini to score an interception in the current season.
- DB Jartavius Martin The defense led the way with seven tackles on their own.
- Martin also had a breakup of a pass and also the first sack of his career.
- Martin has been able to break up at minimum one play in six straight games dating back to last season.
- D Keith Randolph has recorded at least +1.0 sacks in three games.