Northwestern Falls To No. 6 Wisconsin, 24-12

Saturday, October 23

Madison, Wis.

11 a.m.

Northwestern

3-4 , 2-2

Wisconsin

8-0 , 5-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Northwestern

Wisconsin

Northwestern Falls To No. 6 Wisconsin, 24-12

10/23/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football

Box Score

Oct. 23, 2004

Wisconsin Box Score

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Northwestern Post-Game Notes
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MADISON, Wis. -- Coming off an open date, Northwestern could not overcome a sluggish start and fell to sixth-ranked and unbeaten Wisconsin 24-12 Saturday afternoon in front of a record-crowd (82,468) at Camp Randall Stadium.

The Wildcats (3-4, 2-2) outgained (218 to 176) and outscored (12 to 7) the Badgers (8-0, 5-0) in the second half, but it was not enough to overcome a 17-0 halftime deficit.

Senior Noah Herron (Mattawan, Mich./Mattawan) notched his third straight 100-yard rushing effort with 109 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. He also added 34 receiving yards. He became the first back to run for more than 100 yards on the Badgers this season, and the first since Iowa's Fred Russell did so a year ago.

Wisconsin's Anthony Davis rushed for two touchdowns and a game-high 117 yards, although he had 12 more carries than Herron. His effort helped the Badgers move to 8-0 for just the fourth time in the program's 115-year history.

With starting defensive ends Erasmus James and Jonathan Welsh sidelined with injuries, the Badgers turned to subs Joe Monty, Justin Ostrowski and Jamal Cooper to close off the edges and prevent Northwestern's mobile quarterback Brett Basanez (Arlington Heights, Ill./St. Viator) from hurting them with his trademark rollouts and bootlegs.

Basanez was 5-of-18 for 34 yards in the first half before finally finding a rhythm with two second-half scoring drives. He went 11-of-19 for 151 yards and a touchdown in the final 30 minutes.

Marvin Ward intercepted the Badgers' John Stocco on Wisconsin's second offensive snap. The Wildcats, however, could not take advantage of the Wisconsin turnover.

Then, the Badgers couldn't capitalize on a blocked punt that gave them the ball at the Wildcats 14 when they gained only one yard and Mike Allen missed a 31-yard field goal attempt.

The Badgers stalled at the Northwestern 12 on their next possession, but Allen converted from 29 yards out.

In the second quarter, with the Wildcats still unable to get on the scoreboard, Stocco threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Owen Daniels and Davis bullied his way in from 7 yards out behind fullback Matt Bernstein to make it 17-0.

Davis shot up the middle from a yard out to make it 24-0 early in the third quarter.

Late in the third quarter, Northwestern ended Wisconsin's shutout hopes, with Mark Philmore outracing UW cornerback Brett Bell and hauling in a 29-yard touchdown toss from Basanez. Bell knocked away Basanez's pass on a 2-point conversion attempt to keep the score 24-6 late in the third.

Again, the exhausted Badgers defense couldn't catch a breather, this time because cornerback Cory Dious recovered the onside kick for Northwestern.

Herron scored on a 14-yard run on the second play of the fourth quarter. He was wide open for the 2-point catch, but Basanez overthrew him.

At that point, the Wildcats had run 30 of the previous 33 offensive plays.

After trading possessions, the Badgers got the ball back with 7:29 left and ran off all but 20 seconds, turning it over on downs at the Wildcats' 10. Darrin Charles (four catches for 83 yards) had a crucial 21-yard catch at midfield on third down early in the drive.

(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)