P.J. Hill isn't indestructible after all. Wisconsin's win was earned largely without the bruising running back, who sat out much of the game due to injury. After having to be helped off the field with about three minutes to go in the first quarter, Hill returned in the second half. But he went down again for good midway through the third period on his third carry of the half. The redshirt freshman tailback picked up 50 yards on 12 carries.
"I think what basically happened is he irritated some nerves in his neck," UW head coach Bret Bielema said.
Not having Hill looked like it truly hurt the Badger running game, which came in ranked best in the Big Ten and No. 13 nationally averaging 196.2 yards a game. Wisconsin struggled to break free against the Illini, who emptied the defensive playbook in an effort to slow down Wisconsin's ground game. UW only managed to gain 99 yards on 41 carries, for a paltry 2.4 yards per carry average.
"They were bringing some weird fronts into the game," right tackle Eric Vanden Huevel said. "I think they were definitely kind of screwing us up with a lot of slants and angles … I think they brought in some new stuff to kind of screw with our game plan."
Whenever Hill returns you can be sure he won't shy away from his signature punishing running style.
"He's a football player who loves contact and loves delivering it," Bielema said.
Finnemore Flash
Wide receiver Luke Swan had himself a day, catching four passes for 85 yards — both career highs — and scored an acrobatic touchdown on Wisconsin's first second-half possession.
"He's just a consistent guy," defensive back Zach Hampton said. "That's what you need on an offense; you always need a guy who is very consistent, who has sure hands and can get open, and he's that guy."
Swan is now third on the team in both receptions (21) and receiving yards (348) and has three touchdowns. Not bad for a former walk-on who hadn't recorded a catch coming into the season.
"He's a guy who just comes to work everyday," Bielema said of the former walk-on from Fennimore, Wis., even going to so far as to dub him the "Fennimore Flash." "When I gave him a scholarship at the beginning of the season, it was neat to watch and truly see someone who appreciated what you had just done for him. I think Luke Swan takes the approach and the attitude that every rep that he gets is just a blessing and just a way for him to go out and do something good with it."
Injury update
Along with Hill, Hampton was also nicked up during the contest, requiring him to go into the locker room for X-rays during halftime.
While Hampton was able to return to the game, he did not return any punts at all, as the work was taken over by Swan. However, Bielema indicated it was due to the injury, not performance, as they didn't want to overburden the injured Hampton.
"We wanted to use [Swan] as our return man so that we could use [Hampton] as our safety," Bielema said.
You're in good hands with Zalewski
Midway senior linebacker Mark Zalewski's hands were the butt of a joke on the Camp Randall scoreboard screen, asking what he might bring to a desert island. Zalewski responded he would want a football to play catch with, before the screen cut away to the Mohawk-sporting captain's bio video of him bobbling and ultimately dropping a football.
However, Zalewski had the last laugh when he made a game-changing defensive play, grabbing his second interception of the year off a Juice Williams pass on the initial drive of the second half and setting up a UW touchdown.
"I was dropping off my guy; I thought I made a pretty good break," Zalewski later said of the play. "He was staring at one of his receivers and I thought I broke pretty early, which helped."
Zalewski took the opportunity to point out how his hands were golden on the diving interception, dispelling his reputation for having butterfingers.
"My hands are great," Zalewski asserted with a wry grin. "I'm two-for-two on the year on balls thrown to me."
