Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon had his sixth 100-yard performance of the season Saturday in helping the Badgers cruise past Illinois, 56-32.
Gordon (6-foot-1, 207 pounds), a third-year sophomore, ran for 142 yards and three TDs on 17 carries, putting his season totals at 1,012 yards and 11 TDs on 107 carries. That's an average of 9.5 yards per carry.
Gordon had rushing TDs in each of the first three quarters Saturday night; he scored on a 26-yarder in the first quarter, a 1-yarder in the second and a 13-yarder in the third. He didn't play after Wisconsin's first possession of the fourth quarter. His longest run of the night (28 yards) came on his first carry, and he had four carries of at least 10 yards.
Gordon was third in the nation in rushing, averaging 145.0 yards per game, going into the matchup. He has eight 100-yard performances in his 19 career games.
Wisconsin also got a solid performance from backup tailback James White (5-10, 195), a senior who ran for 98 yards and two TDs on 20 carries.
Badgers senior WR Jared Abbrederis had eight receptions for 106 yards; he had suffered a head injury in Wisconsin's most recent game but didn't show any ill-effects Saturday.
One negative for the Badgers was that star senior linebacker Chris Borland suffered a hamstring injury covering a punt in the first quarter and didn't return. "It's going to be OK; they've already started to take care of it," he told reporters afterward. It should help that Wisconsin is off next Saturday.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
