IU drops 4th Big Ten game

MADISON, Wis. – Playing in a town notorious for its Halloween celebration, the IU football team walked into its own house of horrors at Camp Randall Stadium, and walked out with another loss – a bad one.\nThe Hoosiers were dealt their worst defeat of the season, falling 33-3 at Wisconsin. The loss drops IU to 5-4, 2-4 on the year and puts its season-long goal of playing in a bowl game – once a seeming certainty – into serious jeopardy. \n“We didn’t take control of the first quarter and we got behind,” IU coach Bill Lynch said. “Then it was tough to get back.”\nFrom the opening kick, Wisconsin dominated the game. Looking to exploit IU’s struggles against the run this season, the Badgers rushed the ball early and often. \nIn the first quarter alone, Wisconsin carried the ball 20 times for 81 yards, jumping out to a 10-point lead and controlling the ball for about 12 minutes of the 15-minute frame.\nIn the second quarter, the Badgers lost star running back P.J. Hill for the game to an injury, but that didn’t slow their offense. Wisconsin’s backup running back Zach Brown quickly dashed into the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown, putting Wisconsin up 17-0.\nThe Hoosiers salvaged the half when senior cornerback Tracy Porter intercepted a pass in the end zone and returned it to midfield, setting up a 49-yard field goal into the wind by junior Austin Starr to pull IU within two touchdowns. The kick was a career-long for Starr.\nThe field goal would be the only points the Hoosiers would muster all day, but the Badgers were far from finished.\nThe majority of the third quarter was spent in defensive gridlock. The IU defense was able to fend off Wisconsin without Hill in the lineup, but IU’s offense wasn’t able to establish any momentum, turning the ball over twice. \nThe one time in the quarter IU’s offense appeared effective was when junior running back Marcus Thigpen burst out of the line for an 84-yard touchdown run, only to have it brought back by a holding call on junior wide receiver James Hardy. \nToward the end of the third quarter, the Badgers finally broke down the IU defense with a 78-yard drive capped off by Wisconsin running back Lance Smith’s touchdown. Smith was the third Badger to rush for a touchdown on the day.\nAt the start of the fourth quarter and trailing by three touchdowns, the IU offense again started to show some semblance of effectiveness, only to be foiled when sophomore quarterback Kellen Lewis fumbled close to Wisconsin’s end zone, paving the way for a third straight defeat for the Hoosiers. \nWisconsin finished off the Hoosiers in the fourth, tallying nine more points to finish the game with a 30-point victory. IU’s lack of offense not only resulted in just three points, but it kept the IU defense on the field almost 10 minutes longer than Wisconsin’s.\n“I think we did a good job keeping us in the game,” sophomore defensive end Greg Middleton said. “The offense kind of put us in some tough situations, but we battled pretty much the whole game. You never know what’s going to happen. You’ll stay on the whole (game) if you have to; you can’t really complain about it. You just got to do it.”\nDating back to last season, the Hoosiers are 0-6 in games in which they have had the chance to earn bowl eligibility. In order to get back on track, Porter said his team knows it needs to put its current losing streak behind it and focus on its remaining three games.\n“This is our third consecutive loss; we know we’re a better team than that,” Porter said. “We know that we’re supposed to go out here and take care of business, but we didn’t do it.”