Wisconsin’s leading rusher Saturday was a wide receiver. Its top passer was a career benchwarmer.
Many thought stud Corey Clement would play, but he didn’t even make the trip. Neither did his backup, so Wisconsin’s top tailbacks were a walk-on who converted from defensive back and a freshman who was an inside linebacker five weeks ago.
“Guys stepped in,” Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst said, “guys stepped up.”
And more guys went down. Center Dan Voltz left the Memorial Stadium field on crutches, as did receiver Robert Wheelwright.
Injuries like this would ruin most college football teams, but the Badgers took down Illinois 24-13 by hogging the clock (22 minutes, 41 seconds to 7:19) in the second half.
The Badgers’ personnel picture is as clear as beer cheese soup, but they improved to 6-2 and 3-1 in the Big Ten.
“It takes a whole team,” Chryst said. “That’s what’s beautiful about this game.”
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Start at quarterback. Joel Stave was banged around during Wisconsin’s first two possessions and when he was too foggy to interpret a signal from the sideline, Chryst removed him.
Enter Bart Houston, who has not started a game in 3 1/2 seasons. Houston has the size (6-foot-4, 224 pounds), the arm (receiver Alex Erickson called him a “gunslinger”) and the look (long hair and sideburns) but he has been too erratic to beat out Stave. And in his younger days, Houston was knocked for neglecting his playbook studies.
“How’s it going, everybody?” a smiling Houston said to assembled media to start his postgame interview.
Later, he added, “I’m the kind of guy who likes to laugh and have fun. Because football, it is a game.”
Houston completed 22 of 33 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns, impressing and surprising the Illini.
“You almost wish Joel Stave would have played the whole game,” Illinois guard Teddy Karras said. “I don’t know who that backup was, but he was slinging the rock.”
Said interim coach Bill Cubit of Houston: “Sometimes the second-string guy goes in and doesn’t have as much confidence.”
Not Houston, who holds the record for career completions and passing yards at one of the nation’s preeminent high school programs, De La Salle in northern California.
At a team dinner Friday night, running back Alec Ingold said that he, Houston and backup quarterback Thad Armstrong talked about their “high school glory days … whatever we could do to stay loose and brighten the mood.”
Ingold said that Houston’s tales “took the cake” and that when he entered the game Saturday in place of Stave, “some guys maybe were questioning things, but he shut that down right away.”
Said Erickson of Houston: “He had that relaxed look, the half smile.”
Houston was not without his troubles. After Wheelwright dropped a would-be touchdown pass just before halftime, Houston tried to force one to him and was intercepted. Houston’s second pick was worse, an unnecessary fling into the end zone with his team up 11 points.
“High school mistakes,” Houston called them. “Now I have that experience and I won’t do that again.”
He probably won’t get the chance.
Although a #StartBart movement flared up on Twitter, Chryst reported Stave was feeling good after the game. If Stave gets cleared, there’s little question that he will start Saturday against Rutgers.
Then again, in a season of extreme injuries, when the two-deep should be written on a dry erase board, there’s almost no telling who will finish the games each week.
Erickson actually led the team with 81 rushing yards, a result of successful jet sweeps. And former defensive players Ingold and Dare Ogunbowale rushed a combined 29 times.
“It’s: ‘Next guy up. Don’t flinch,'” Ingold said. “That’s the mindset of this team.”
Twitter @TeddyGreenstein