BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
EVANSTON, Ill. — Wisconsin tailback Corey Clement and Northwestern cornerback Trae Williams reached the intersection at the same time from opposite directions.
The 5-foot-11, 200-pound Williams threw a shoulder into Clement.
The 5-11, 227-pound Clement threw a shoulder into Williams.
You could hear the collision, the pads popping.
Clement smiled.
"That was a good hit," he said. "But I didn't go down."
Williams knocked Clement out of bounds. But he didn't knock him off his feet.
On the way back to the huddle, Clement reached out with a fist bump for Williams.
"I respected him," he explained. "I gave him my best."
But sometimes your best comes up a little short.
"You just have to keep fighting," Clement reasoned.
That applies to the UW offense; still standing, still grinding for yards and points. Slowly but surely, the Badgers have been fighting to earn respect with their running attack.
Held to only 71 yards in a 14-7 loss at Michigan, they averaged 208.7 yards over their next three games, an overtime loss to Ohio State and victories over Iowa and Nebraska.
As a unit, they took another step here Saturday by rushing 57 times for 238 yards in a 21-7 win over Northwestern, snapping a four-game, 17-year losing streak at Ryan Field.
Their first adjusted total would be 227 — minus negative yards from runs. Their net was 190 because of "designed" losses, totaling 37 yards, while killing the clock on their final possession.
Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst conceded afterwards that it was a miscalculation on his part. It was not his intention to give up so much field position before punting.
But it didn't take away from what the Badgers accomplished with their ground game. A year ago, they had 26 carries for a minus-26 yards (including six sacks) in a home loss to Northwestern.
"We were fairly consistent running the football," Chryst said. "I thought the backs ran hard."
Following the fourth-quarter collision between Clement and Williams on the boundary, the Badgers faced a third-and-5 from the Northwestern 5.
This was an important red zone possession from the respect that the defense, namely Garret Dooley and Conor Sheehy, had just forced a Wildcats turnover by quarterback Clayton Thorson.
The fumble was recovered by D'Cota Dixon and returned 22 yards. Clinging to a 13-7 lead, it was now up to the offense to hold up its end of the deal and finish off a drive.
"It was one of those nail-biters," Clement observed. "I had to give us more breathing room."
But first it was quarterback Bart Houston executing a zone read by pulling the ball from the mesh with the tailback and running 6 yards for a first-and-goal on the Northwestern 4.
Zone read? Houston? A dual-threat QB?
"That's not what the papers say, but apparently I am," he said, gushing. "Oh, yeah, we read it (the defensive end). It was a really good play, a good solid play."
Clement got the next two carries. He picked up 2 yards on the first and 2 more on the second for the score — bowling over safety Kyle Querio who met him in the hole short of the goal line.
"I hit him with a full head of steam," said Querio, a junior from New Jersey, Clement's old stomping grounds. "But he bounced off me. He's shifty and he can definitely bring power."
Others were saying the same things about Clement, who had 32 carries for 106 yards.
Here's the simple math: 3.3 yards per carry. His longest run was 15.
"It's never easy," said Clement, grinning. "It's never pretty."
But his running style is pretty effective.
"Corey has been feeling good and running hard," said UW wide receiver Jazz Peavy. "And that's exactly what we need from him. I feel like we're taking steps every week (with the offense)."
Peavy added to the rushing total with a 46-yard touchdown on a flanker, or Z, reverse.
"We practiced it all week," he said. "When it finally gets called in a game, you know it's coming, you know it's going to happen, you know you're going to have room to run usually, so it's exciting."
The Northwestern defense was obviously geared up to stop the power runs off tackle by the tailback. In this case, it was Bradrick Shaw on the play-action to the right side of the formation.
On the misdirection, quarterback Alex Hornibrook handed the ball to Peavy who had hurt Ohio State with six carries for 70 yards on a different play, the jet sweep.
Turning the corner, Peavy said, "I saw open field and a couple of blockers."
Wide receiver Quintez Cephus and left tackle Ryan Ramczyk were leading interference. Ramczyck used his 6-6, 314-frame to shield Northwestern safety Godwin Igwebuike.
"I knew a lot of people were going to be pursuing that way," said Peavy. "And I just found the right lane to cut back. I haven't done something like that since high school (Kenosha Tremper).
"It felt great. I had guys down the field blocking and I just executed it. Plays like that get the crowd going, get our sideline going, get a lot of energy in the guys.
"It's the ignition of excitement."
Shaw did his part helping ignite the running game with 54 yards on 11 carries.
"I knew I was going to get another opportunity, I just didn't know when," said Shaw, who had two carries and a 21-yard touchdown against Nebraska. "I got it earlier today and it felt good."
Shaw was pressed into action due in part to tailback Dare Ogunbowale being less than 100 percent physically. Ogunbowale had three rushes for 12 yards and one catch.
"With the leadership of Dare and Corey, he has been able to step up as a running back as a young player," noted UW linebacker Garret Dooley, who has watched Shaw's steady development.
"He's only going to grow the rest of the season."
That is the hope for the offense.
"Probably every game that we're ever going to play, there's going to be room for improvement and things that we could have done better," said Hornibrook, who was 11-of-19 for 92 yards.
"In the first half, we could have gotten a couple of more scores."
On the red zone inconsistencies, Chryst said, "The end result … (pause) we have to be more productive. We're putting a lot of stress on the team. We just have to keep working on it.
"It's an area where we can get better and we need to."
Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald suggested the Badgers might be "the most complete team we've seen on tape in all three phases."
To which Chryst twice pointed out, "It takes everyone to win … it takes a team to win."
It has the makings of a slogan.
