BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — The topic of shutouts is front and center for the Wisconsin football team six games into the season and there's good reason for that.
The sixth-ranked Badgers have blanked four of their first six opponents heading into a Big Ten Conference road matchup with Illinois on Saturday at 11 a.m. History tells us that's not an easy thing to do.
The last time Wisconsin had four shutouts in a season was 1930. The last time a Big Ten team had four shutouts in its first six games was 1962 when Michigan accomplished the feat. The last time a Football Bowl Subdivision club had four shutouts in its opening six contests was 1967 when Oklahoma did it.
It wasn't that long ago that the Badgers (6-0 overall, 3-0 in the Big Ten) went 123 straight games without a shutout victory. The streak began with the season opener in 1984 and ran all the way to the Rose Bowl win over UCLA to close out the 1993 season.
Wisconsin has shut out its last two opponents, including a 38-0 decision over Michigan State. In the modern era, which dates back to 1946, the Badgers have only one instance where they shut out Big Ten opponents in back-to-back games. That was in 1951 when they defeated Northwestern 41-0 and Indiana 6-0 behind the famed Hard Rocks defense.
Curiously, Wisconsin has produced as many shutouts in the 60-game Paul Chryst era as it did in the 197-game run of Hall of Famer Barry Alvarez (seven).
The Badgers have beaten Illinois (2-4, 0-3) nine consecutive times going back to 2008, but none of the victories came via shutout. In fact, Wisconsin has blanked the Illini in victory only three times since 1900: 1977, '21 and 2000.
Here are five more things to know:
Precision Personified
Wisconsin junior quarterback Jack Coan has had three outings this season in which he's completed at least 80 percent of his pass attempts: Michigan (81.2), Kent State (80.0) and Michigan State (85.7). That's one more than Russell Wilson had during his entire record-setting season in 2011. On the way to setting the FBS record for passing efficiency and guiding the Badgers to the Big Ten title, Wilson connected on 81.0 percent of his throws vs. Oregon State and 94.1 percent vs. Minnesota. Overall this season, Coan has completed at least 70 percent of his passes five times in six outings. Wilson did it 11 times in 14 games.
Circle The Date
Here's another sign of Jonathan Taylor's remarkable consistency: The UW tailback reached 1,000 career rushing yards in his seventh game as a freshman (Oct. 21, 2017 vs. Maryland). He hit 3,000 yards in his seventh outing as a sophomore (Oct. 20, 2018 vs. Illinois). He needs 4 yards Saturday vs. the Fighting Illini — the seventh game of his junior season — to reach 5,000 and join a highly exclusive club. Only Herschel Walker of Georgia (5,596), Ron Dayne of Wisconsin (5,091) and LaMichael James of Oregon (5,082) have surpassed 5,000 yards rushing through their junior seasons. Walker and Dayne were Heisman Trophy winners.
Road Less Traveled
The Badgers are a remarkable 17-4 (.810) in true road outings under Chryst, who took over the program in 2015. For some modern-era perspective, Ivy Williamson was 16-11-1 (.589) from 1949 to '55; Milt Bruhn was 19-22-2 (.465) from '56 to '66; John Coatta was 0-13 (.000) from '67 to 69; John Jardine was 10-28-1 from '70 to '77; Dave McClain was 16-19-2 (.459) from '78 to '85; Jim Hilles was 1-5 (.167) in 1986; Don Morton was 0-14 (.000) from '87 to '89; Alvarez was 42-37-1 (.531) from 1990 to 2005; Bret Bielema was 16-12 (.571) from '06 to '12 and Gary Andersen was 6-3 (.667) from '13 to '14.
Third-Degree Burns
Wisconsin has converted 43 of 83 third downs, good for a success rate of 51.8 percent that ranks sixth in the nation. Conversely, the Badgers have held opponents to 13 conversions in 83 tries, good for a mark of 15.6 percent that ranks first among FBS teams. Going back to 1981, Wisconsin has had four previous instances where its third-down success rate was better than 50 percent: 2011 (54.7), 2010 (50.3), 1993 (58.3) and 1983 (52.6). By the same token, the best opposing third-down ratio for the Badgers is 27.9 percent, set in 2016.
Singled Out
The Badgers shut out South Florida, Central Michigan, Kent State and Michigan State, but what happens if you subtract that result from each of those statistical profiles? Against their other opponents this season, South Florida is averaging 32.2 points per game, Central Michigan 32.3, Kent State 27.4 and Michigan State 27.8.
