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Wisconsin Badgers beat down Northwestern 42-7 in Evanston

The Wisconsin Badgers begin the Jim Leonhard era with a resounding 35-point win over Northwestern behind a tremendous performance by Graham Mertz and Chimere Dike.

Matt Belz

In this story:

The Wisconsin Badgers (3-3 overall, 1-2 B1G) came into Saturday's matchup with Northwestern (1-5 overall, 1-2 B1G) last in the Big Ten and attempting to reel in their emotions after head coach Paul Chryst's firing. 

Under the leadership of interim head coach Jim Leonhard, the Badgers made quick work on the Wildcats, winning 42-7 in Evanston behind a career performance by wide receiver Chimere Dike. 

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Here is a game summary from Wisconsin's big win to open the Jim Leonhard era in Madison. 

Contents

  1. Game Recap
  2. Players of the game
  3. Video of the game
  4. Photos of the game
  5. Up next

Game Recap

Wisconsin would get the ball first to open the game. The Badgers moved the ball down with a balanced approach, highlighted by a pair of completions by Graham Mertz to Chimere Dike and a 33-yard run by running back Braelon Allen. 

Unfortunately for Wisconsin, back-to-back overthrows by Graham Mertz led to a 34-yard field goal attempt by Nate Van Zelst that was off the mark, squandering a scoring opportunity for UW. 

Northwestern would move the ball across midfield on their opening drive, but Wisconsin would eventually hold them to a punt. The Wildcats came up with a great special teams play to pin the Badgers at their own two-yard line.

Out of the shadow of their own end zone, a 14-yard run by Braelon Allen and a first-down throw to Jack Eschenbach would help Wisconsin move the ball back near midfield before Graham Mertz found Skyler Bell for a chunk play to give UW another scoring chance. 

With the running game and play-action both working well, Mertz would once again find Skyler Bell, this time for a 15-yard touchdown throw based on play-action to give the Badgers a quick 7-0 lead. The drive was the most impressive of the season, spanning 98 yards on nine plays for UW. 

Wisconsin would get the ball back shortly thereafter, as safety Kamo'i Latu came up with a huge diving interception off of Hilinski on third down. The Northwestern quarterback was rushed by Nick Herbig, and Latu made a tremendous play to generate the turnover in Northwestern territory. 

Just a few plays later, Graham Mertz hit Chimere Dike in stride on a crossing route, and Dike took it to the house for a 52-yard touchdown. The big gain gave Wisconsin an early 14-0 lead just seconds into the second quarter. 

Over the course of the next three drives, Northwestern would go three-and-out on both of their drives, and Wisconsin also had to punt the ball back after only picking up one first down on a Chez Mellusi run.

The Badgers would get the ball back, and the Graham Mertz to Chimere Dike connection kept rolling. After a 43-yard completion for Mertz to Dike, the two would also hook up for a 21-yard touchdown to push the Wisconsin advantage to 21 points.  

Northwestern would proceed to go three-and-out again to give Wisconsin the ball back. Braelon Allen and Chez Mellusi would take over from there, as the duo moved the chains on consecutive first downs, before connecting on a wildcat throw that went 21 yards to give Wisconsin a fourth touchdown. The touchdown toss was the first of running back Braelon Allen's career. 

Northwestern would finally get some movement on offense on the next drive. Running back Evan Hull took a short pass 44-yards to move the ball down into Wisconsin territory. However, the Badgers' defense stood tall and Northwestern had to try a field goal. The attempt was wide left, giving Wisconsin a 28-0 lead at halftime. 

Northwestern received the kickoff to open the second half and once again moved the ball deep into the red zone. However, Wisconsin safety Kamo'i Latu jumped a Ryan Hilinski pass near the goal line to end the scoring threat and give the Badgers the ball back at the 20-yard line. 

After an initial first down, a third-down penalty by the Badgers would result in a Wisconsin punt, but Jim Leonhard's defense would get the ball back shortly thereafter. Outside linebacker Nick Herbig would get home for a strip-sack, and defensive end James Thompson Jr. recovered the fumble. 

Over the next two drives, neither team would be able to do much on offense. However, after a big fourth down stop by the Wisconsin defense, Graham Mertz would find Chimere Dike for a 25-yard gain to move the Badgers down to the Northwestern six-yard line. On the very next play, Dike would catch his third receiving touchdown of the game to make it a 35-0 lead in favor of Wisconsin early in the fourth quarter. 

On the following drive, Northwestern would reach the end zone for the first time in the game. Quarterback Brendan Sullivan threw a 41-yard completion to Bryce Kirtz to get the ball down near the goal line, and then found Anthony Tyus for a short touchdown in a scrambling situation. 35-7 Wisconsin. 

From there, the Wisconsin Badgers would run clock with Braelon Allen running up the middle and Graham Mertz finding Dean Engram four times on the next drive. Mertz would finish the drive off with a 21-yard touchdown throw to Markus Allen to give the Badgers a 42-7 win. 

Players of the game

  • Chimere Dike (Wisconsin)

After recording his first career 100-yard game to open the season against Illinois State, Chimere Dike had been relatively quiet the past few games. Against Northwestern, the junior wide-out had the best performance of his career. In the first half alone, Dike had seven receptions for 147 yards and two touchdowns on eight targets. 

Dike was all over the field and finished the game with four catches of over 20 yards overall, one of which went 52 yards. It was a tremendous game for Dike, who wound up with 10 total catches and 185 total yards on the day. 

  • Graham Mertz (Wisconsin)

One of the main reasons for Dike's big day was the play of quarterback Graham Mertz. The junior signal-caller did a great job of extending plays outside of the pocket and delivering the ball in rhythm out of play-action. Overall, Mertz had his second five-touchdown game and finished 20-of-29 (69%) throwing for career-high 299 yards. 

The offensive line did a tremendous job of protecting Mertz throughout the game, and Wisconsin's quarterback played confidently all afternoon. 

  • Braelon Allen (Wisconsin)

Wisconsin running back Braelon Allen usually does most of his damage as a runner. Against Northwestern, he also threw his first career touchdown out of the wildcat. Allen's 21-yard touchdown throw was impressive, but so were his 135 yards on 23 carries. Allen broke off a 33-yard run in the first half, and he 

  • Kamo'i Latu (Wisconsin)

Wisconsin safety Kamo'i Latu had a huge game in coverage. The former Utah transfer had two critical interceptions in the game and was also tackled well in the open field. Overall, Latu finished with three tackles, but his two key turnovers played a big role in the game. 

Video of the game

Photos of the game

Wisconsin head coach Jim Leonhard / Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports

Jim Leonhard pats Skyler Bell on the helmet against Northwestern. 

Wisconsin LB Jake Chaney / Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports

Wisconsin linebacker Jake Chaney delivers a big hit against Northwestern. 

Wisconsin wide receiver Chimere Dike / Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports

Wisconsin wide receiver Chimere Dike celebrates a touchdown reception. 

Wisconsin RB Chez Mellusi :: Ebony Cox / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

Wisconsin running back Chez Mellusi breaking a tackle against Northwestern. 

Wisconsin nose tackle Keeanu Benton :: Ebony Cox / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

Wisconsin nose tackle Keeanu Benton applying pressure to the Northwestern quarterback. 

Wisconsin WR Skyler Bell / Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports

Wisconsin wide receiver Skyler Bell celebrates a touchdown. 

Wisconsin QB Graham Mertz / Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports

Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz throwing the football against Northwestern

Up next

The Badgers will head to Michigan State next weekend for a 3 p.m. CST showdown in East Lansing. The game will be aired on FOX. 

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Matt Belz
MATT BELZ

Title: Publisher, Beat Writer for AllBadgers.com, a Sports Illustrated Channel Hello, my name is Matt Belz, and I am the site manager at All Badgers. I previously wrote for multiple years at Buckeyes 5th Quarter and have been the leading publisher here since March of 2022.  When I am not covering the Wisconsin Badgers football and men's basketball teams, I enjoy being outside and spending time with family and friends.  You can follow everything I write about on several different platforms. First and foremost on our site...AllBadgers.com You can follow me personally on Twitter at @savedbythebelz or check out our Facebook page at Wisconsin FanNation on Sports Illustrated.

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