EVANSTON, Ill. — Teams are beginning to take extra notice of Brandon Williams in the return game following his hot start to the season. Saturday was the most pronounced example of that, as Northwestern refused to let Williams beat them on kickoffs.

The Wildcats utilized a short, pop-up kickoff strategy, with redshirt freshman kicker Amado Villareal repeatedly sending high, floating kicks to around the 30-yard line.

"It was big-time respect," Williams said. "When the punter and kicker come to you after the game and say, 'Our whole game plan was to not kick you the ball,' that's just the utmost respect right there."

The strategy forced reserve tailback Dywon Rowan to field five kicks, three of which he fair caught. Backup wideout Jarvis Minton also returned two of the kicks for no gain.

"Some of those times, I wanted to come over and get it, but I just wanted to be smart, don't be selfish out there," Williams said. "We were getting the ball at almost the 30 every time anyway. That's still good field position and we were clicking on offense."

However, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Wildcats following Tyrell Sutton's fourth-quarter receiving touchdown forced Villareal to kick the ball deep to Williams, and the Badger standout return man nearly made them pay dearly.

Taking the kick at the 16-yard line, Williams burst through a seam only to get tripped up at the Northwestern 45 — right in front of Villareal.

"That was the one time I got on the kicker, but somebody had clipped my leg and I slipped right in front of the kicker," Williams said. "But that would have been to the house."

Career days: Despite the loss, the Badger offense enjoyed a banner day — even beyond tailback Brian Calhoun's accomplishments both on the ground and through the air.

Quarterback John Stocco's 326-yard performance topped his previous career of high, as did his four touchdowns. His previous best of 297 yards had come against his home state Minnesota Golden Gophers last season, while the quartet of scores topped a pair of three-touchdown performances earlier this season (Indiana and Temple).

Jonathan Orr's four touchdowns easily surpassed his previous best of two — established during his redshirt freshman season of 2002 against West Virginia. Orr's four touchdowns also rank second on UW's all-time single-game list.

On the Northwestern side, Sutton broke his own school record for single-game rushing yards by a freshman. His 244 yards on the ground were also the sixth most ever by a Wildcat. For the year, Sutton now has 12 touchdowns — more than halfway to Damien Anderson's single-season scoring record.

Costly call: UW standout left tackle Joe Thomas was flagged for a key holding penalty at a crucial juncture of the game's fourth quarter — one that replays showed may have been a questionable call.

With the Badgers trailing 44-34 and in a second-and-six situation, the penalty negated what would have been a 27-yard completion from Stocco to Williams. However, the holding call forced Wisconsin into a second-and-17, and the offense sputtered on the drive, punting for the only time in the fourth quarter.

"I thought that was a huge call," UW head coach Barry Alvarez said. "I'm really anxious to look at it. I was looking right at the play. I'm real anxious to look at that … because it gave us a fourth-and-11. If it would have been a fourth-and-five or less, I would have gone for it. But that took us out of the three-point deal. So that was a huge call."

DeBauche at it again: Sophomore punter Ken DeBauche continued his torrid start to the season, averaging 46.7 yards on his three kicks Saturday. The Suamico native dropped two of his punts inside the Northwestern five-yard line.

DeBauche's first punt literally stopped at the Wildcat one-yard mark after traveling over gunner Zach Hampton's head, while his final offering of the game was downed at the three.

Hogan hurt: Sophomore linebacker Casey Hogan experienced an especially cruel day in the loss. After replacing starter LaMarr Watkins at sam linebacker late in the third quarter, he nearly tackled Wildcat tailback Tyrell Sutton in the backfield on his first play in the game.

However, Sutton wiggled his way out of the tackle and gained five yards, and the play proved to be the last for Hogan, who suffered a broken left leg, according to head coach Barry Alvarez.