Wisconsin defeats Nebraska, 35-28

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Braelon Allen rushed for 228 yards and three touchdowns – including a tiebreaking 53-yarder with 3:50 remaining – to help No. 19 Wisconsin outlast Nebraska 35-28 for its seventh consecutive victory on Saturday.

Nebraska drove the ball to Wisconsin’s 11-yard line in the final minute but ended up losing the ball on downs at the 21. Faion Hicks broke up Adrian Martinez’s fourth-down pass to Zavier Betts with four seconds left. The Badgers handed Nebraska its fifth straight loss and moved a step closer to playing for a conference title.

Nebraska lost to Wisconsin for the eighth consecutive time, and the Badgers improved their all-time lead in the series to 11-4, including 6-1 in Madison.

Quarterback Adrian Martinez completed 23-of-35 passes for 351 yards, marking his fourth career 300-yard passing game. He also rushed for 23 yards on nine carries to account for 374 yards of total offense. With his yardage output Martinez increased his career total offense total to 10,792, setting the Nebraska career record for total offense, passing Tommy Armstrong Jr.’s previous record of 10,690 yards from 2013 to 2016.

Martinez moved into the top 10 on the Big Ten career total offense list with his 10,792 yards. He sits in seventh place, moving past Illinois’ Juice Williams (10,594 yards), Illinois’ Nathan Scheelhaase (10,634), Armstrong (10,690) and Michigan’s Denard Robinson (10,745).

Martinez increased his total to 3,388 yard of total offense this season. The 3,388 yards of total offense this season are a career high for Martinez and moved him into fifth place on Nebraska’s season total offense chart.

Martinez passed for at least 200 yards for the 12th consecutive game, the longest individual 200-yard passing streak in school history.

Martinez increased his season passing total to 2,863 yards, marking his highest season total in his four seasons as the starter. Martinez’s 2,863 yards ranks sixth on the Nebraska season passing list.

Martinez had a 1-yard TD run for his 35th career rushing touchdown, tied for fourth in Big Ten history.

Today’s game marked the 21st time in Martinez’s career he has had at least one rushing and one passing touchdown.

Tight end Austin Allen caught seven passes for 143 yards, setting a pair of Nebraska records with his performance. His 143 receiving yards are the most in a game by a tight end in school history, breaking the previous record of 137 yards by Johnny Mitchell against Oklahoma on Nov. 29, 1991. With his effort he increased his season total to 36 receptions, eclipsing the previous record of 34 catches set by Tyler Hoppes in 2017. Allen now has 547 receiving yards this season, 13 shy of the Nebraska tight end record (Junior Miller, 560 receiving yards in 1978).

Allen had three catches longer than 20 yards in the game, giving him 10 catches on the season of longer than 20 yards. He entered the game leading all Big Ten tight ends by averaging 13.8 yards per reception.

Senior receiver Samori Toure had seven receptions for 113 yards, including a 4-yard touchdown in the second quarter. He had two catches longer than 40 yards in the game and now has seven receptions of better than 40 yards this season. Toure averages 20.8 yards per catch in 2021.

Toure posted his fifth 100-yard receiving game of the season, tying the school record also held by Stanley Morgan Jr. who had five 100-yard receiving games in 2017.

With his 113 receiving yards, Toure increased his season yardage total to 831, moving him into eighth place on the Nebraska single-season receiving yardage list.

With 100-yard receiving efforts from Allen and Toure, Nebraska had a pair of 100-yard receivers in the same game for the first time since JD Spielman (112) and Maurice Washington (118) accomplished the feat at Colorado on Sept. 7,2019.

Nebraska totaled 452 yards of offense in the game, including 220 before halftime. The 452 yards marked the most against Wisconsin this season (previously 365 by Michigan). Wisconsin entered the game leading the nation allowing 216.3 yards per game of total offense.

Outside linebacker Garrett Nelson had a six-yard sack in the second quarter, giving him a team-leading five sacks and 11.5 tackles for loss this season. Nelson has had at least one tackle for loss in 12 of his past 14 games dating back to the 2020 season.

Luke Reimer finished with five tackles to increase his season total to 101. He is the first Husker since Mohamed Barry in 2018 to have 100 tackles in a season.