It didn’t come easy, but the 15th ranked Wisconsin Badgers eventually pulled away for a 28-17 Big Ten Conference road win over
Montee Ball
Illinois on Saturday.
Wisconsin fell behind 14-0 in the second quarter, but the Badgers climbed back to pull out the win, their 9th (9-2) of the season. Wisconsin is 5-2 in the Leaders Division and will host Penn State (6-1) next Saturday with a trip to the Big Ten Championship game going to the winner.
The Badgers trailed 17-7 at the half and yards were tough to come by. QB Russell Wilson, averaging 241.6 passing yards per game, was held to 90 yards on 10 of 13 passing. Yards were tough to come by for Montee Ball as well, but the Badger running back kept grinding and wound up with 224 yards on 38 carries. 164 of those yards came in the second half for Ball.
Ball also scored a pair of touchdowns to give him 30 for the season. He becomes just the 5th player in Football Bowl Subdivision history to score at least 30 in a season. He’s also the reason why the Badgers are playing in the Big Ten title game next week. In the last three Badgers wins, Ball has rushed for 613 yards and 7 touchdowns.