Madison Reporter

By vanquishing Big 10 foe Northwestern 35-7 last Saturday and pushing their winning streak to six, the Wisconsin Badgers find themselves in the top 20 of both traditional polls.

The No. 18 Badgers played a complete game at Camp Randall Stadium on Nov. 13, with the defense blanking the visitors from Evanston, Illinois for about 80% of the contest and the scoring onslaught more or less the Braelon Allen Show.

In his first collegiate start, Allen, who hails from Fond Du Lac, bulldozed his way through the Wildcats defense at will to the tune of 173 rushing yards and three scores on 25 touches.

For his Herculean efforts, the freshman garnered Big Ten’s Co-Offensive Player of the Week honors.

“Just getting started,” the Badgers football program’s Twitter account proclaimed postgame.

According to the Wisconsin State Journal, Allen’s memorable debut in front of tens of thousands of Badgers fans was made possible by a season-ending left leg injury to junior speedster Chez Mellusi.

Whereas Allen powered the ground game, Badgers redshirt sophomore quarterback Graham Mertz controlled the air attack, lobbing touchdowns and 216 yards on 18 of 23 passing.

Defensively, Wisconsin almost pitched a shutout until it surrendered a touchdown in garbage time.

Linebackers Leo Chenal and Jack Sanborn tag-teamed for a combined 24 tackles while Dean Engram, John Torchio, Jordan Turner and Caesar Williams each collected a pick, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.

Badgers fans were elated by the victory though it was at the expense of a lowly opponent.

“I'll take any win over Northwestern,” Twitter user Matt Anderson said. “Dominant and Northwestern had a top 30 pass defense coming in. Very impressive game from Mertz when you take that into consideration. He keeps improving the sky is the limit for this team.”

Next up for the high-flying Badgers is a visit from Nebraska in the 2021 home finale.