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Badgers Ground Out a 38-20 Victory By Barry The Bear |
IdataSports.com Sports Staff Writer
barrythebear@webtv.net
Posted Tue Sep 30 19:12:58 2003
Game MVP: Dwayne Smith= 34 carries-193 yards-3 touchdowns
Offensive Player of the Game: Jim Sorgi= 7 of 12 passing- 2 rushing touchdowns
Behind a powerful running game led by Dwayne Smith and Booker Stanley, the Badgers racked up 438 total yards of offense and a 38-20 victory over Illinois on Saturday night for their first conference win of the year and their fourth win overall.
Wisconsin grabbed the lead early in the game. Dwayne Smith, filling in for Anthony Davis would lead the way for a 14-0 lead in the opening quarter. The first score from Smith happened when he scored on a sweep on the left side from 19 yards out with not even three minutes elapsed in the game. The Badgers next score was set up from the defense. Jim Leonard intercepted a deep pass intended for Kevin Hayden, Leonard returned the interception 20 yards to the 34. Sorgi then directed a nine play drive, which concluded on second and goal at the 3, as Smith would score his second touchdown of the quarter. The extra poit was good, and Wisconsin led 14-0 with just over 8 minutes remaining in the first quarter.
The Badgers would extend the lead to 21-0 early in the second quarter, as Jim Sorgi would score on a 3 yard bootleg run and dive into the endzone with 12:30 left in the first half. Ilinois would finally get on the score board on their next possession. On the Badger kick-off, the down field coverage was blown and E.B. Huntley returned it 66 yards down to the 24. But, the Badger defense held their ground and stopped Illinois, forcing them to settle for a field goal. John Gockman would kick a field goal of 28 yards to make it 21-3. Illinois would narrow the gap a bit farther before the half ended. The Illini would drive 75 yards in 18 plays and use up the final 6:30 minutes of the half. Eventually, Buetjer lofted a short pass on third and goal at the five, which was caught for the score. The point after kick was good, and Wisconsin took a 21-10 lead into the locker room.
Illinois came out in the third and narrowed the gap to 21-13 on a 48 yard field goal by Gockman on the opening drive of the half. The Badgers would strike back and score a huge touchdown on the next drive, aided by a long
pass from Sorgi to Williams which gained 75 yards. Williams would have scored, had he not been pushed out of bounds at the five. One play later, Sorgi gave the ball to Smith who scored his third touchdown of the night and gave the Badgers a 28-13 lead. The Badger defense had problems finding a way to stop Illinois, and the Illini once again narrowed the gap on a touch down to make it a 28-20 game after three quarters.
Jim Sorgi would lead the Badger attack to 10 points in the fourth. First on a 14 play-70 yard drive,that actually started in the late third quarter. The drive saw Sorgi throw an interception on a third and nine, and get knocked down HARD on the play. Initially, the interception was run back for a touchdown, but it was called back on a roughing the passer penalty on Illinois.The penalty gave Wisconsin a new set of downs, and the Badgers would go on to score a touchdown early in the fianl quarter, to break Illinois backs with a 35-20 lead, instead of a 28-26 lead, had they scored the touchdown. Wisconsin closed out the scoring for the night, later in the game on a 19 yard field goal by Allen. It first appeared that Wisconsin would score another touch down, as Smith had a huge carry for 40 yards on the drive. But the drive eventually stalled down at the 2, leading to the field goal, which made the
FINAL SCORE:
WISCONSIN 38
Illinois 20
Wisconsin is now 1-0 in the Big Ten
4-1 Overall
Next Game: At Penn State= 11am Saturday Oct 4
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