Wisconsin Football: 3 hot takes from blowout win over Illinois

Wisconsin football smacked Illinois around for four quarters to start the season, exacting some revenge. Time for some piping-hot takes.

Lovie Smith built Illinois up with a strong finish to the 2019 season only to get exposed once again to begin 2020, this time by Wisconsin.

A year ago, the Fighting Illini used an upset win over a playoff-contending Wisconsin team to make a run at a bowl game. They hoped that would translate to some Big Ten West contention in 2020, but the Illini looked like anything but a threat against the Badgers.

Wisconsin got its revenge.

Graham Mertz replaced Jack Coan who had foot surgery and it ended up paying major dividends as he had one of the best starts for any freshman quarterback this season. Now, he’s out for three weeks after testing positive for COVID-19 — and his backup may be in the same boat.

Things are looking rough despite a 1-0 record and blowout win for Wisconsin. Let’s retrace our steps with some hot takes, though.

3. Jake Ferguson is the Big Ten’s best tight end

The Big Ten has some impressive tight ends like Penn State’s Pat Freiermuth, Indiana’s Peyton Hendershot and Ohio State’s Luke Farrell, but Jake Ferguson made his case for the best of the bunch in the season opener.

Many would argue that Freiermuth is the best tight end in the conference and that might be true, but the gap between him and Ferguson is not that vast.

Against the Fighting Illini, the junior led all receivers seven catches for 72 yards and three touchdowns which already surpasses his touchdown total from last season. He’s on pace to crush all of his previous career-highs.

Ferguson had over 400 yards in each of the past two seasons which didn’t get enough recognition and now he’s off to a red-hot start. This kid is legit.