CHAMPAIGN, Ill. _ Fifth-ranked Wisconsin remained unbeaten and moved another step closer to the Big Ten West Division title with a 24-10 victory over a young Illinois team that isn't close to being ready to compete against the league's elite.
That was pretty much the lone highlight for Paul Chryst's team in front of an announced crowd of 42,101 Saturday at Memorial Stadium. But the Badgers did pull off a stunning trick play late to seal the victory.
UW lost freshman tailback Jonathan Taylor (left leg) in the first half and, not surprisingly, the offense foundered for most of the second half.
Taylor, who entered the game leading the Big Ten in rushing at 168.5 yards per game, carried 12 times for 73 yards before exiting.
With Taylor out for the entire second half, UW finished with 168 rushing yards on 45 attempts. That was the Badgers' second-lowest total of the season. The low was 109 against Northwestern.
Walk-on Garrett Groshek rushed 12 times for 51 yards and a touchdown and Bradrick Shaw added 40 yards on 12 carries for UW.
Left tackle Michael Deiter carried once and scored on a 4-yard run that fooled the Illini defense with 3 minutes, 54 seconds left.
The Badgers held a 17-3 halftime lead, thanks to their defense, and failed to score on their first three possessions of the second half before scoring late.
In addition to losing Taylor, the Badgers were without safety D'Cota Dixon, who was held out because of a right leg injury. Dixon practiced all week but work with the trainers early Saturday and it was determined he could not go.
Quarterback Alex Hornibrook threw his seventh interception in Big Ten play and completed 10 of 19 passes for 139 yards.
Those issues were not enough to help the Illini (2-6, 0-5 Big Ten) pull off the upset against UW (8-0, 5-0), which extended its program-record streak of Big Ten victories to 11 and improved to 11-1 in road games under Chryst.
The Badgers will have no worse than a two-game lead with four to play and own head-to-head tiebreakers over every team in the division except for Iowa and Minnesota.
They have yet to beat a ranked team, however, so it will be interesting to see where they land Tuesday night in the initial College Football Playoff rankings.
UW's offense was awful early, generating a combined 7 yards on six plays.
UW punted both times, the second time on fourth-and-4 from the Illini 34.
A critical mistake by the Illini's punt-coverage team sparked UW's foundering offense.
The Badgers faced fourth-and-4 from their 14 when the Illini were penalized 5 yards for an illegal substitution.
UW capitalized on the mistake, along with an offside call on the next play, by marching down the field for a touchdown.
UW ran the ball on 12 consecutive plays after the off-side call, with reserve fullback Alec Ingold scoring on a 1-yard run with seven seconds left in the opening quarter to help UW take a 7-0 lead.
Taylor rushed six times for 52 yards and Groshek added three carries for 16 yards on the drive.
UW doubled that lead in the second quarter, but only after the defense again bailed out the offense.
Hornibrook had tight end Troy Fumagalli open down the field, but the ball was low and sailed into the arms of strong safety Bennett Williams.
Williams' 20-yard return gave the Illini the ball at the UW 45 with 10:37 left in the first half.
Reserve outside linebacker Tyler Johnson got the ball back to UW three plays later.
The Illini faced third-and-10 when Johnson fought past the right tackle and came from behind to strip the ball from quarterback Jeff George. Defensive end Alec James recovered at midfield and the Badgers needed only seven plays to drive for their second touchdown of the day.
Groshek capped the drive with a 2-yard run with 7:07 left in the half.
The teams closed the half by exchanging field goals but UW's score held more drama.
Nick Nelson's third-down break-up in the end zone forced Illinois to settle for a 28-yard field goal with just 39 seconds left in the half.
UW drove from its 30 to the Illinois 34 before calling its final timeout of the half, with two seconds left.
Illinois coach Lovie Smith then tried to ice UW's Rafael Gaglianone by calling not one, not two but three timeouts.
Gaglianone was unfazed. He drilled a 52-yard attempt on the final play of the half to give UW a 17-3 lead and then celebrated wildly with his teammates.
With UW's offense doing little without Taylor, the defense closed the door on the Illini with 8:36 remaining.
Illinois drove from its 22 to the UW 18, but outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel drew a holding call and safety Joe Ferguson, filling in for Dixon, intercepted a pass on the next play.
Ferguson's 37-yard return put the ball at the UW 43.
UW's offense showed life for the first time all half.
Hornibrook had pass plays of 11 yards to Quintez Cephus and 24 yards to Fumagalli to help move the ball to the Illini 3.
UW faced third-and-goal from the 4 when Hornibrook rolled right and threw a backward pass to the left _ to Deiter.
Deiter caught the ball effortlessly and rumbled into the end zone untouched to help UW build its lead to 24-3 with 3:54 left.
The Illini responded with a 75-yard touchdown drive to pull within two scores with 49 seconds left. That couldn't detract from the sight of the 6-foot-6, 328-pound Deiter dance into the end zone.
It also couldn't overshadow the fact that UW's offense struggled without its fabulous freshman tailback.
