BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin junior tailback Jonathan Taylor has his sights set on some astounding statistical feats in the months ahead, but there's one he could finish off before Halloween.
Taylor has an opportunity to rush for 100 yards against every Big Ten Conference opponent. He's crossed 10 off the list so far, including the first 200-yard outing by a Badger against Michigan. Three tests remain and one is on the docket for the eighth-rated Badgers (3-0 overall, 1-0 in league play) on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Camp Randall Stadium.
Northwestern (1-2, 0-1) has twice held Taylor under 100 yards — 83 on 19 tries in 2017 and 46 yards on 11 attempts last season — surely creating a sizeable chip on his shoulder.
Taylor accounted for two touchdowns in his first go-round with the Wildcats on the way to a 33-24 Wisconsin victory in Madison, but lost two fumbles during a 31-17 setback last season in Evanston, Illinois.
Should Taylor have a 100-yard breakthrough against Northwestern, he'll face Michigan State for the first time in his career, a meeting set for Oct. 12 at Camp Randall. The Spartans are currently ranked third in the nation against the run after finishing first and second the previous two seasons, respectively.
Should Taylor check Michigan State off his list, that will leave Ohio State, which hosts the Badgers Oct. 26 in Columbus, Ohio. In the only previous meeting between the schools during Taylor's career, the Buckeyes limited him to 41 yards on 15 carries during a 27-21 victory in the Big Ten title game in 2017.
Given the unbalanced scheduling model for the two-division, 14-team league, it's pretty remarkable that Taylor has this opportunity, especially when you consider he's in just his third season. So far he's faced Maryland, Rutgers, Indiana and Penn State once each and capitalized. Michigan State is coming up for the first time. Had the Badgers not faced Ohio State for the Big Ten crown in 2017, they'd be meeting for the first time in Taylor's now-30-game career.
Two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin of Ohio State also topped 100 yards rushing vs. every Big Ten opponent, but that's when the league actually had 10 members.
Closer to home, the league was 11 strong when Ron Dayne, the 1999 Heisman winner for the Badgers, rushed for 100 yards against every Big Ten team except Michigan. Montee Ball, the 2012 Doak Walker Award winner for Wisconsin, topped 100 yards against all 12 league opponents except Iowa during a period when the Big Ten went from 11 to 12 schools.
Here are five more things to know:
Be Cocky at Your Peril
This has long between one of Wisconsin's strangest, most entertaining, most evenly played series. The teams are 14-14 in the last 28 meetings. Since 1990, the Badgers have lost as the higher ranked team six times and fallen twice despite scoring 40 or more points. They've won scoring 70 points, but lost with 48. Northwestern, meanwhile, has won a game by 35, but lost one by 47. The teams have both topped 30 points in the same game five times and combined for 90-plus points three times.
And One More Thing
The Wildcats are approaching two full seasons since they last dropped a Big Ten road game. They were 5-0 last year and have won eight straight going back to Sept. 30, 2017, when they absorbed a 33-24 loss to the Badgers at Camp Randall.
Not So Rare
When Wisconsin won the coin toss and opted to receive the opening kickoff vs. Michigan last week, it was seen by many as a unique decision by coach Paul Chryst, perhaps driven by a top-10 opponent and the desire to set an offensive tone at home. But a closer look at the numbers tells a different story. Since Chryst took over in 2015, the Badgers have won the toss 27 times. He has chosen to take the ball 12 times, going 9-3, and deferred to the opponent 15 times, going 12-3. Nine of the times Chryst took the opening kickoff he was at home. Ten of the deferrals came on the road or at a neutral site.
Lofty Status
By jumping from 13th to eighth, the Badgers now have been ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press media poll in 32 of the 67 editions since Chryst took the reins. Overall, this will be the 125th game Wisconsin has played as a top-10 team in the history of the AP poll. Its record in those games is 92-31-1.
A Measure of Dominance
Wisconsin has run 76.6 percent of its 224 plays this season while leading its opponent by at least 14 points. That translates to the No. 1 game-control mark in the Football Bowl Subdivision, according to SportSource Analytics.
