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Get ready for a Big Ten battle as the Northwestern Wildcats and the Wisconsin Badgers will face off at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday at Ryan Field. Neither Northwestern nor Wisconsin could muster much offensive firepower in their last games, so look to the defense to decide this one.
The Wildcats came up short against the Penn State Nittany Lions last week, falling 17-7. QB Ryan Hilinski had a memorable game, but not in the way you want to be remembered: despite one touchdown, he threw one interception and fumbled the ball once with a passing completion percentage of only 40.54%.
Northwestern's defense was a force to be reckoned with, as it collected one interception and four fumbles. LB Bryce Gallagher picked up that interception and then proceeded to rub salt in the wound by taking it back the other way for a touchdown.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin might not have won anyway, but with 84 yards lost due to penalties, they really shot themselves in the foot last week. Their bruising 34-10 defeat to the Illinois Fighting Illini might stick with them for a while. Wisconsin was down 31-10 at the end of the third quarter, which was just too much to recover from. No one had a standout game offensively for the Badgers, but they got one touchdown from QB Graham Mertz.
The Wildcats are the clear underdogs, so they're hoping it's the size of the fight that determines this one. However, those who like betting on the underdog should be happy to hear that they are 2-0 against the spread when expected to lose.
The losses put Northwestern at 1-4 and Wisconsin at 2-3. Northwestern is 0-3 after losses this year, Wisconsin 1-1.
