11:08 David Gilreath takes the opening kickoff up the middle and out to the 35-yard line. On the play, an NIU player apparently injured his knee fairly severely. The medical staff has the cart on the field and both team’s staffs are out assisting the player.
11:11 The cart has been taken off the field and replaced by an ambulance. It’s strangely silent here in Camp Randall.
11:16 After an eight minute delay, the Badgers run their first offensive play. P.J. Hill gains five yards running left.
11:17: Donovan has all day to pass and finally finds Chris Pressley open for a six-yard gain.
11:18 Thanks to a nice blitz pickup by Hill, Donovan is able to find Paul Hubbard for a 14-yard gain. That is Hubbard’s first catch since he was injured in the second week of the season.
11:20 Passing along an injury update: The NIU player injured on the kickoff was Ricky Crider. Crider suffered a broken leg and was taken to the UW Hospital.
11:21 Garrett Graham beats the coverage down the middle of the field and Donovan finds him for a 25-yard touchdown pass.
PAT good, 7-0 Wisconsin.
11:25 Evans Adonis takes Taylor Mehlhaff’s kickoff out to the 40 yard line, where NIU takes over.
11:26 Wisconsin forces a quick 3-and-out and Northern Illinois sends out the punt team.
11:29 Hill goes up the middle, breaks a tackle and rumbles 72 yards for a touchdown.
PAT good, 14-0 Wisconsin.
11:33 Mehlhaff’s kick is downed for a touchback.
11:35 Another quick 3-and-out forced by the Wisconsin defense. David Gilreath hits a nice return, but the run is called back because of an illegal block by Daven Jones. Instead of the 46, Wisconsin will take the ball at the 10-yard line.
11:39 The Badgers are forced to punt, and DeBauche boots a 52-yard kick, which is fair caught at the 30-yard line.
11:40 NIU quarterback Dan Nicholson finds Landon Cox for a nice 12 yard pickup. On third down, Nicholson is pressured by Aaron Henry and the Huskies are forced to punt.
11:43 Returning the punt, David Gilreath finds a seam and gets a nice 31-yard return out near midfield.
11:44 Chris Pressley gets a surprise handoff and gains nine yards up the middle for a first down.
11:45 Zach Brown gets the nod as the first running back in after Hill. He takes this handoff up the middle for five yards.
11:47 At the end of the first quarter, UW leads 14-0. The Badgers are driving, and have a first down on the 10-yard line.
11:51 Pressley takes another handoff and pounds his way into the endzone for a 10-yard touchdown.
PAT good, 21-0 Wisconsin.
11:55 Mike Newkirk blows through the NIU line and sacks Nicholson for a 10-yard loss. Third and 20 from the NIU 10.
11:57 NIU is forced to punt from its own endzone. Gilreath teturns the ball to the NIU 33-yard line.
11:59 Running back Lance Smith gets into the act, picking up nine yards on a nice cut to the outside.
12:04 Smith sprints left and into the endzone for a nine-yard touchdown run.
PAT good, 28-0 Wisconsin.
12:09 NIU is stuffed again and forced to punt. With nine minutes left to go in the first half, the Huskies have four yards of total offense.
Gilreath fair catches the punt at the Wisconsin 43-yard line.
12:12 Hill crashes through the line for a pickup of seven yards.
12:14 Hill comes hobbling off the field following a run. It appears the training staff is working on Hill’s left knee.
12:18 Donovan rolls out and hits Beckum for a seven yard completion.
12:19 Donovan made a nice pass to the back of the endzone, but Kyle Jefferson dropped the ball. Mehlhaff converts the 32-yard field goal.
31-0 Wisconsin.
12:24 Another set of downs, another three-and-out for the Badger defense. Gilreath finds another gaping hole and returns the ball 31 yards to the NIU 31.
12:25 On the Badgers’ first play, Donovan was hit when he threw and the ball sailed into the arms of Cory Hanson.
12:28 Nicholson hits his receiver Greg Turner for a four-yard gain on third and three for NIU’s first first down of the game. There are 52 seconds remaining.
12:30 Nicholson’s pass is intercepted by Shane Carter and returned 34-yard line. The Badgers got another 15 yards on a late hit penalty.
12:32 Jefferson grabs a 7-yard pass and gets out of bounds with 13 seconds remaining.
12:34 Fourth and less than a yard with seven seconds remaining, Donovan airmails Paul Hubbard down the left sideline.
End of the first half. 31-0 Wisconsin.
12:54 Some halftime notes:
Justin Anderson, entering the week the sixth-leading rusher in the country, has four carries for one yard.
As a team, Northern Illinois has run 24 plays for a total of 31 yards
Every Badgers with a rush has at least a five-yard average per carry.
12:57 NIU starts the second half with a quarterback switch. Sophomore Ryan Morris is the new Huskie signal caller.
12:59 Morris gets drilled as he throws deep. The ball fell incomplete, but Allen Langfrd was flagged for pass interference.
1:01 Under heavy pressure, Morris is sacked by the duo of DeAndre Levy and Mike Newkirk for a loss of seven.
1:02 Shane Carter jumps an out route and intercepts it. Carter returned the interception to the four-yard line.
1:04 P.J. Hill is back in the game and dives forward for a two yard gain down to the one.
1:04 Hill bounces the run to the outside and walks into the endzone for a touchdown.
PAT good. 38-0 Wisconsin.
1:08 Mehlhaff’s kickoff clears the endzone for a touchback.
1:10 Morris hits Matt Simon for a 19 yard gain out to the 34-yard line.
1:16 UW still has their starting offensive unit in the game, up 38 with six minutes in the third quarter. A little surprising.
1:19 Hill breaks a 39-yard rush down to the 12-yard line. Hill now has 183 yards rushing on 20 carries.
1:24 The Badgers are inside the five-yard line facing a third down and two at the four yard line.
1:25 On third down, Donovan rolled right and had tight end Travis Beckum open along the back line, but he missed him badly. Mehlhaff’s 21-yard field goal attempt was good.
34-0 Wisconsin.
1:28 Morris and Simon connect for a 38-yard completion down to the Wisconsin 25-yard line.
1:31 Northern Illinois converts on a 34-yard field goal attempt to get on the board with 51 seconds left in the third quarter.
38-3 Wisconsin.
1:34 Donovan keeps the ball and runs up the middle for a gain of six yards as the third quarter winds to a close.
1:40 Wisconsin is driving inside NIU territory, with the ball at the 43-yard line.
1:43 On third and three, Lance Smith picks up only two yards. UW is going to go for it on fourth down.
1:44 Smith picks up the first down and eight more yards to the 32-yard line.
1:48 With the game well in hand, Allan Evridge is starting to warm up on the sidelines. This will likely be Donovan’s last series running the offense. The Badgers have a first down at the 21-yard line.
1:53 The Wisconsin drive stalls out, and Mehlhaff kicks a 34-yard field goal.
44-3 Wisconsin.
1:58 Northern Illinois again fails to pick up a first down and the punting unit is on. Marcus Randle El returns the punt 19 yards to the UW 40-yard line.
2:00 Allan Evridge is now in at quarterback for the Badgers.
2:01 The media is heading down to the field for postgame interviews. Look for game coverage about an hour after the game concludes.