'Dead zone' kills Illini

MADISON, Wis. - Illinois offensive coordinator Mike Locksley refers to it as the "pre-red zone," the prized 10- to 15-yard stretch outside the 20-yard line.

It's generally a good place to be. Given Illinois' quick-strike abilities, it's usually a great place to be.

Judging by the offense's performance Saturday afternoon, Locksley might as well have renamed it the "dead zone".

On seven of their 12 possessions at Camp Randall Stadium - against a beleaguered Wisconsin defense that surrendered 86 points the previous two games - the Illini pushed the ball inside the Badgers' 31-yard line.

Three times they scored - 2 touchdowns and 1 field goal.

Twice Juice Williams tossed interceptions.

Once Williams suffered a sack to an unblocked blither that led to a punt.

Once they turned the ball over on downs.

Altogether, they didn't do nearly enough to keep their season rolling or to keep the Badgers buried in the Big Ten's basement.

While Illinois' offense struggled, Wisconsin scored 17 unanswered points in the second half to deliver a 27-17 homecoming victory before 81,241 surprised fans.

The Illini (4-4, 2-3) dug their own grave with 3 interceptions, 8 penalties, 2 sacks and several blown defensive assignments that led to big plays by the Badgers (4-4, 1-4).

The desultory result left Illinois coach Ron Zook angry and fired up.

He ordered his team to "bow up" in the gloomy postgame locker room, then grew animated with the media, too.

"I don't know if I'm going to make changes, but I tell you what I'm gonna do," Zook hollered. "We can be a good football team, but they're going to be held accountable. Particularly the older guys.

"It's not the way it was before we got here (in Dec. 2004). Illinois, if we want to be the kind of program that we want to be, then guys are going to have to bow up. That's the nature of this game."

Illinois started fast as linebacker Martez Wilson blitzed in untouched on the game's sixth play and forced a fumble that Derek Walker recovered at Wisconsin's 44-yard line.

But then came the first sign of dead-zone trouble.

From the Badgers' 28, Williams rolled out and had freshman wideout Fred Sykes wide open. But Williams' lob floated well over his head and into the hands of safety Chris Maragos, who returned it 51 yards to set up a field goal.

Williams wound up 17 of 32 for 221 yards and 3 interceptions - all of them on passes toward Sykes.

The second was a bomb down the left sideline where Sykes was shoved out of bounds along the way and cornerback Allen Langford made the third-quarter play.

The last pick changed the momentum for good.

On the first play of the fourth quarter with the score 17-17, Williams dropped back from Wisconsin's 29. Sykes appeared open on a slant, but the throw was high and a little behind the target. It bounced off Sykes' right hand into cornerback Niles Brinkley's breadbasket for a 49-yard return.

That set up Philip Welch's 38-yard field goal that put Wisconsin ahead for good with 12:11 to go.

Williams declined to talk after the game, but Locksley said enough for him.

"We're going to go how our quarterback goes," he said. "Unfortunately for him, you throw 3 picks and 2 of the picks you had the guy wide open and the guy open and we didn't execute the pitch-and catch.

"Those are the plays that are expected to be made from that position and we didn't make them today."