{"id":82514,"date":"2022-09-30T06:22:55","date_gmt":"2022-09-30T06:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/preview-picks-illinois-at-wisconsin\/"},"modified":"2022-09-30T06:22:55","modified_gmt":"2022-09-30T06:22:55","slug":"preview-picks-illinois-at-wisconsin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/preview-picks-illinois-at-wisconsin\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview &#038; Picks: Illinois at Wisconsin"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\">&#13;<br \/>\n        &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>CHAMPAIGN <\/b>\u2014 While most of the outside world is focused on <b>Bret Bielema<\/b> returning to Madison (Wisc.) after surprisingly leaving the Badgers 10 years ago, Illinois football players and coaches are probably thinking more about what happened a year ago when Bielema hosted his former team for the first time as the Illini head coach.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">It was a bloodbath.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Wisconsin outgained Illinois 491-93 in a 24-0 shutout win at Memorial Stadium that wasn&#8217;t even as close as the score suggested.  The Badgers grounded and pounded Illinois&#8217; defense for 391 yards, and Wisconsin limited Illinois to 26 rushing yards and less than two yards per pass attempt.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cI&#8217;m as competitive as it gets,\u201d Illinois defensive coordinator <b>Ryan Walters<\/b> said on Monday.  \u201cWalking off that field last year wasn&#8217;t fun.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">So Saturday&#8217;s 11 am kickoff for Illinois at Wisconsin (2-2, 0-1 Big Ten) is less about the emotions for Bielema and the Wisconsin fans and more about proving the Illini (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten) have come a long way in the year since that humiliating defeat.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Since that Wisconsin loss, the Illini have won four of their last seven power-five games, including road upsets at Penn State and Minnesota last season.  The Illini will need to show continued improvement to win their first game at Camp Randall Stadium since 2002.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cWe can&#8217;t do what we did last year, that&#8217;s for sure,\u201d Walters said.  \u201cAs you start to prepare for rematch games, you look at last year&#8217;s film and it&#8217;s not a fun one to watch.  We have definitely improved in a lot of aspects to correct some of the issues we had a year ago.  This is a game that we&#8217;re excited for.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cSome of the things we&#8217;ve done is in preparation for this game.  As a competitor, you can&#8217;t wait to go play again and I&#8217;m hoping our guys will be ready to go and I think they will be ready to go Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#13;\n    <\/p><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/plain\" class=\"optanon-category-4\">\n    if(typeof fbq === 'undefined') {\n        !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n        n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\n        n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.defer=1;\n        t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\n        document,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n        fbq('init', '320233411816140');\n        fbq('init', '1575186632756631');\n        fbq('track', 'PageView');\n    }\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#13; &#13; &#13; &#13; CHAMPAIGN \u2014 While most of the outside world is focused on Bret Bielema returning to Madison (Wisc.) after surprisingly leaving the Badgers 10 years ago, Illinois football players and coaches are probably thinking more about what happened a year ago when Bielema hosted his former team for the first time as &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/preview-picks-illinois-at-wisconsin\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Preview &#038; Picks: Illinois at Wisconsin<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":86195,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wisconsin-to-pay-fired-football-coach-paul-chryst-an-11-million-buyout\/","url_meta":{"origin":82514,"position":0},"title":"Wisconsin to pay fired football coach Paul Chryst an $11 million buyout","date":"October 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Former Wisconsin football coach Paul Chryst will receive a reduced buyout of $11 million, the school said Monday.Chryst, fired Sunday following a 2-3 start to the season, had approximately $20 million left on a contract that paid him through January 2027. 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Defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard will take over as interim head coach.\u201cAfter a heartfelt and authentic conversation with Coach\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65421,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/braelon-allen-graham-mertz-lead-wisconsin-to-win-vs-illinois-state\/","url_meta":{"origin":82514,"position":2},"title":"Braelon Allen, Graham Mertz lead Wisconsin to win vs.  Illinois State","date":"September 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"MADISON \u2013 This was the type of season-opening victory football coaches love.Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst saw his team score with big plays \u2013 one on defense and one on offense \u2013 and a quartet of scoring drives at least 59 yards in a comfortable 38-0 victory over Illinois State Saturday\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":85170,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/paul-chryst-has-been-fired-as-wisconsin-badgers-head-football-coach\/","url_meta":{"origin":82514,"position":3},"title":"Paul Chryst has been fired as Wisconsin Badgers head football coach","date":"October 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"MADISON \u2013 Paul Chryst is out as Wisconsin's head football coach.UW officials announced Sunday that Chryst has been removed five games into his eighth season as the Badgers' head coach. Defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, 39, is to be named interim head coach.\u201cAfter a heartfelt and authentic conversation with Coach Chryst\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":85176,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wisconsin-fires-paul-chryst-five-games-into-eighth-season-jim-leonhard-takes-over-as-interim-coach\/","url_meta":{"origin":82514,"position":4},"title":"Wisconsin fires Paul Chryst five games into eighth season;  Jim Leonhard takes over as interim coach","date":"October 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Wisconsin has fired coach Paul Chryst five games into the 2022 season, the university announced Sunday. 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