The Wisconsin Badgers have put themselves back in the Big Ten conference race after defeating Northwestern last week and now the team will travel to play against Illinois at Memorial Stadium for a big divisional game and the coverage will be at 8 PM on the Big Ten Network.
The Badgers come into the game after a dominating win over Northwestern and this starts a stretch of two road game against Illinois and Iowa before the team plays against BYU and Indiana and then the team finishes on the road against Minnesota before coming home against Penn State. The Badgers have continued to run the ball as well as anyone this season in the nation, averaging nearly 300 yards per game and the offense is averaging over 500 total yards and still the team is 4-2 on the year.
The team is 2-1 in the Big Ten and they are still chasing Ohio State in the division race, as the Buckeyes are 3-0 and the Badgers are one game behind after losing to them earlier in the season 31-24 and that was one of the closest games for OSU. The Big Ten is competitive at the top and even if the Badgers don't make it at the end, they will be a tough team to deal with for everyone else in the conference with that running game.
Wisconsin was able to crash things last season because of the off the field issues for Ohio State and Penn State and now they will try and continue to stay with one loss within the conference. Joel Stave has nearly 1300 yards and has passed for 11 touchdowns this season and the Badgers have rebounded nicely from that crazy loss against Arizona State that saw the referees blow the game after Stave's bad kneel down and they have the chance to get on a good run in conference play. The Badgers are scoring just under 40 points per game and the defense has been stellar this season, allowing just 13 points per game to rank in the top five of the nation in points against per game.
Illinois is having an up and down season so far in 2013 after losing last week to Nebraska to fall to 3-2 and the team is 0-1 within the conference and now they will try to get back on track with an upset win over the Badgers. The team scored 50 points against Miami of Ohio and lost a game by 10 to Washington after starting off the season 2-0 in 2013. The team plays against Michigan State next after Wisconsin and then will be on the road against Penn State and Indiana before a huge home matchup against current number four Ohio State and then against Northwestern. The game against the Badgers will be on at 8 pm from Memorial Stadium and will be on the Big Ten Network.
