College Football
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Wisconsin 49, Northern Illinois 7
When: 3:30 PM ET, Saturday, September 17, 2011
Where: Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois
Temperature: 65°
Head Official: Todd Geerlings
Attendance: 41068

Russell Wilson completed 23-of-32 passes for 347 yards and three touchdowns in No. 8 Wisconsin’s 49-7 blowout victory over Northern Illinois Saturday at Soldier Field in Chicago.

Wisconsin (3-0) took a 28-7 halftime lead behind Wilson, who recorded his 100th career touchdown on the Badgers’ opening possession, a 12-yard pass to Nick Toon. For his career, Wilson now has 84 passing touchdowns and 18 rushing scores.

Montee Ball and Toon had two touchdowns each for the Badgers, who improved to 30-3 all-time against MAC opponents and 12-1 against Northern Illinois. Ball finished with a game-high 91 rushing yards.

Northern Illinois (1-2) entered the game averaging 45.5 points and 485.5 yards, but was almost entirely shut down by Wisconsin’s defense, which held the Huskies to just 236 yards of total offense. The Huskies were forced to punt on eight of their first 10 possessions.

Wisconsin’s offense racked up 623 total yards and scored at least 35 points for the third straight time. The Badgers increased their lead to 42-7 midway through the third quarter on Wilson’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Pedersen.

Chandler Harnish, who had five touchdowns in Northern Illinois’ 45-42 loss last week against Kansas, finished 15-of-24 for 165 yards. The Huskies’ lone touchdown came on a 3-yard run by Jasmin Hopkins that tied the game at 7 late in the first quarter.
Top Game Performances
Rushing
Northern Illinois   Wisconsin
Akeem Daniels Player Montee Ball
4 Attempts 20
23 Yards 91
5.8 Avg Yards 4.6
0 Touchdowns 2
0 Long 0
Receiving
Northern Illinois   Wisconsin
Perez Ashford Player Jared Abbrederis
6 Receptions 6
77 Yards 83
12.8 Avg Yards 13.8
0 Touchdowns 0
0 Long 0
Team Stats Summary
 
  Yards Scoring Defense
Team Tot Rus Pas TD FG INT Sck FF
Northern Illinois 237 64 173 1 0 1 0.0 0
Wisconsin 621 266 355 7 0 0 1.0 0