Wisconsin-Illinois football 'rivalry' has been one-sided for more than a decade

Jeff Potrykus
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON – Calling the Wisconsin-Illinois football series a rivalry, at least over the last decade-plus, is a misnomer. 

Although UW's lead in the series is only 42-36-7, the Badgers have won the last nine meetings and 13 of the last 14.

In the four meetings since Paul Chryst took over the Wisconsin program in 2015, UW has outscored the Illini by a combined 145-46.

Illinois (2-4, 0-3 Big Ten) enters its game against No. 6 UW (6-0, 3-0) on Saturday as a 31-point underdog and with four consecutive losses. The Illini have surrendered a combined 158 points in those losses.

In his three games against Wisconsin since taking over at Illinois, head coach Lovie Smith is 0-3 and the Illini have been outscored by a combined 121-33.

“We’re underdogs this week?” Illinois coach Lovie Smith quipped when asked about the matchup. “We understand. I told you about the stats. This is a good football team coming in.

“But we’ve played good teams…Playing our best football at home, we’ll be OK with the results.”

The results haven’t been what Illinois fans envisioned since Smith took over the program before the 2016 season. His record entering this season was 4-23 in the Big Ten and 9-27 overall. Any improvements this season have been modest at best.

After a 2-0 start, the Illini have lost to Eastern Michigan, 34-31; to Nebraska, 42-38; to Minnesota, 40-17; and last week to Michigan, 42-25.

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Michigan built a 28-0 lead with 4 minutes 33 seconds left in the first half and then scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns in a span of 2:36 after the Illini had pulled to within 28-25.

“Didn’t like the way we started,” Smith said. “Of course, you go into every game wanting to win the football game but if that doesn't happen then you have to find some things to build off of…When you get down, 28-0, you have some decisions to make and we decided that first off we are a lot better football team than that, but more importantly we are going to play a lot better than that.

“Defense had to get some stops, they did. And from there we had to score points. And to be able to score 25 unanswered points like that gives our team confidence going on.”

Recent history suggests that confidence won’t translate to success on the field.

Two trends have emerged in the teams’ last four meetings.

UW will run the ball; Illinois will struggle to pass the ball.

The Badgers have averaged 256.5 yards rushing and three rushing touchdowns per game in the last four meetings. Their edge in time of possession is a combined 63:24.

Illinois quarterbacks have completed just 40.5% of their passes (47 of 116) for an average of 155.3 yards per game, with zero touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

“We played a top-16 team and this week we get a chance to play a top-six team,” Smith said. “We have a history with the University of Wisconsin. We know what they are going to bring to the table on both sides of the football.”

Extra points

UW tailback Jonathan Taylor, held to a season-low 80 yards on 26 carries in the victory over Michigan State, is now No. 2 in the Big Ten in rushing at 137.5 yards per game. J.K. Dobbins of Ohio State is No. 1 at 137.7 yards per game. Dobbins' per-carry average is 7.1 yards to 6.4 for Taylor but Taylor has 14 rushing touchdowns compared to six for Dobbins...

Taylor, center Tyler Biadasz and outside linebacker Zack Baun have been named to The Associated Press mid-season All-American team.