Wisconsin football: Badgers sleepwalk to uninspiring road win

Wisconsin football went on the road to play the Illinois Fighting Illini. Paul Chyrst and the Badgers came out victorious 24-10.

The Badgers might have won by 14 points, but the game was a lot closer than the score would indicate. Wisconsin did all of their damage in the first half, but their defense pitched a shutout in the second half until a garbage time touchdown with under a minute left.

Will the Badgers’ offensive woes and good defense last when the competition stiffens? Here are three takeaways from the Wisconsin-Illinois game.

1. The Badgers didn’t impress the Voters

The College Football Playoff Rankings comes out this Tuesday and the Wisconsin Badgers needed to make a statement. Yes, they are in one of the toughest conferences in the nation, but they have played none of the top teams in the Big Ten. So they need to impress to at least be near the Top Four when the initial rankings come out.

The offense at times looked good but at times it also struggled. The Badgers need to find more consistency in the offense if they want to be players in the Big Ten and in the Playoffs.

They came out with the win, which at the end of the day is always good but in college football, you need more.This defense needs to keep it up when they play better teams. And this offense needs to do more than run right and left with their great stable of running backs led by freshman Jonathan Taylor.