Wisconsin vs. Illinois: Game notes and Paul Chryst's postgame

A look at some game notes from Wisconsin's 24-point loss and an overview of what Paul Chryst had to say following the team's poor performance.

Wisconsin Badgers

The Wisconsin Badgers (2-3 overall, 0-2 B1G) are struggling this season after another terrible performance this past Saturday.

The Badgers dropped to under .500 following a 24-point loss to Illinois inside Camp Randall Stadium, and head coach Paul Chryst's seat in Madison is continuing to get warmer.

Following the embarrassing beatdown, Chryst met with local media members to discuss the loss and the state of his program.

Here are some of the game notes from yesterday and an overview of what Chryst had to say in postgame availability.

Game Notes

Illinois had not beaten Wisconsin in Madison since 2002, representing a 20-year gap. The Fighting Illini last won against the Badgers in 2019, in Champaign.
Wisconsin only had two total rushing yards with sacks included. The team had 24 rushing attempts, and averaged .1 yards per carry.
Graham Mertz threw two interceptions against Illinois and has now thrown an interception in each of the past four games under center.

Defensively, Wisconsin did not have an interception for the first time this season.
Illinois running back Chase Brown had 129 rushing yards versus Wisconsin. He is the third tailback to eclipse the 100-yard mark this year, all three happening in the past two games.
Mertz was sacked five times in the contest, while Wisconsin nose tackle Keeanu Benton had two sacks in the game as well.

Wisconsin was outscored 20-0 in the second half, and the deficit 24-point overall deficit was the worst loss to Illinois since 1988.
The Badgers only had 68 total yards on 28 plays in the second half.
Wisconsin had 10 penalties for 77 yards, meaning they had more penalties than rushing yards on the day.

Overall, it was Wisconsin's worst loss to an unranked team since the Champs Sports Bowl in 2008.
Wisconsin has scored the least points in Big Ten play (31) and surrendered the most points (86).

Chryst began his opening statement by acknowledging that "no one wants to be where we are at, and yet I told the team there is only one response and that's us continuing to come together," Chryst said. "We need to play better football," Chryst went on to say, with the caveat that he felt like the team made several self-inflicted mistakes that hurt them against Illinois. He specifically noted the three turnovers that all led to points and the 10 penalties.
Chryst later mentioned that "everyone's got to own it" when it comes to this loss, and that the group needs to come together towards a solution as well.

When asked about the team's confidence and his confidence in the staff since making several changes in the off-season, Chryst was non-committal in his response. However, Chryst did note that the offense needs to be much better to win and that they need to look at everything to help the team play better.
Chryst commended Illinois' ability to blanket Wisconsin's passing game with man coverage and stop the run with "an extra hat in the box." He went on to say that it takes all 11 players to make it work and that they need to be in sync.
In the later moments of his press conference, Chryst discussed how his team needs the team to be better at seizing the moment when there are opportunities after the Badgers struggled to respond once again.

You can watch the entire press conference below.

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