[media-credit name=’DEREK MONTGOMERY/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]It was a small glimmer of hope for the Wisconsin Badgers' defensive front when defensive tackle Justin Ostrowski returned, albeit in a limited fashion, last weekend against Purdue. A unit that had been decimated by injuries appeared to have its first casualty returning to action.

However that wasn't the case this weekend, as the sophomore was kept off Wisconsin's travel list against Illinois Saturday. Head coach Barry Alvarez cited concerns about Ostrowski's rehab as the primary reason for his absence against the Fighting Illini.

"He was really sore after [the Purdue] game and I think they wanted to be really cautious with him," Alvarez said of keeping Ostrowski out of action Saturday.

Originally projected as a starter prior to a preseason knee injury, Ostrowski saw his first action of the season last week against the Boilermakers, recording one tackle in monitored action.

Though it remains to be seen if Ostrowski will return for this weekend's contest against Penn State, the opposite is true for fellow defensive tackle Jason Chapman.

Chapman suffered an ankle injury two weeks ago against Minnesota and has seen his action severely limited in the past two weekends, though he played a noticeably larger role against Illinois. For his part, defensive coordinator Bret Bielema believes the sophomore will be back to full strength in time for the Badgers' visit to Happy Valley.

"I think he'll be almost back to full condition by this week. He dressed last week and was in a position where if we needed him he could've played," Bielema said. "This [past] week he practiced more and more but wasn't quite probably at the level where he needed to be … but I think we'll obviously have him out there more and more next week."

Nicked Bell: Senior cornerback Brett Bell left Saturday's game in the third quarter after aggravating his surgically repaired ACL. According to Bell, the knee started bothering him in the first half, but he chose to remain in the game despite the pain.

"I went in at halftime and it was stiffening up on me, I mean it's an ACL — who knows what an ACL is going to do," Bell said.

Bell's absence forced Bielema to rely heavily on his two redshirt freshmen, Jack Ikegwuonu and Allen Langford, for the last quarter of play. With the steady diet of three, four, and five-wide receiver sets employed by Illinois combined with the shorter bench because of Bell's absence, UW was forced to make some changes in its defensive game plan.

"After we lost Brett through the game, we were obviously short a cover guy so that affected the things we anticipated we'd be able to do," Bielema said.

The injury doesn't appear serious, however, as Bielema said he expects to have Bell back for next week, even saying the senior could have returned to action Saturday had circumstances required.

"It's the ninth game of the season, I was released at five months and I've been playing on a not completely [healthy] ACL for three months now," Bell said. "Anyone who's had an ACL injury will tell you it aggravates you, and they'll tell you it's not 100 percent for a year but week-by-week I get a little pain here, a little pain there but it's getting strong."

Casillas at it again:

As the saying goes, once is an accident, twice is a coincidence and three times is a trend. Well, coincidence or not, freshman linebacker Jonathan Casillas just seems to have a nose for the punter.

Just two weeks after blocking a punt in Minnesota to cap a miraculous victory, Casillas showed his first block was no fluke, as he blocked his second punt of the year in the third quarter against Illinois.

"I thought it was a huge play," Alvarez said. "You always have someone force the punt, and he forced it, and then to get a punt block when a return's set up — that's really impressive."

With Wisconsin protecting a 20-10 lead early in the third quarter, the Badger defense held the Illini to a three-and-out in their first possession of the half. On the ensuing punt, Casillas fought through the block of Illinois' Brian Grzelakowski and threw up a hand in front of punter Steve Weatherford's kick, sending the offering careening backwards toward the Illini endzone.

Weatherford pounced on the ball, keeping it from rolling into the end zone while Casillas quickly reversed his field to make sure the punter wasn't able make a play.

"As soon as I blocked it I knew I just had to get him down," Casillas said.

Wisconsin capitalized quickly. Just two plays later, running back Brian Calhoun scampered six yards for the touchdown to give Wisconsin a 27-10 advantage.