Western Illinois brings a very different look to Wisconsin’s Week 2 schedule.
The Leathernecks are not a national FCS power, not a program on the rise toward the FBS, and not one of the better-funded teams in their level of football. They’ve gone 4-8 in each of the past two seasons, which at least beats the 0-11 stretches they put together in the two years before that. Their last winning season came in 2017, when they finished 8-4, and that was also the last time they reached the FCS playoffs before losing in the second round.
This season opened with a lopsided 65-14 win over Northwestern College, a private Christian liberal arts school in Orange City, Iowa that competes in the NAIA, not NCAA Division I. Western Illinois then stepped up to its first FCS test against Illinois State and ran into a much tougher opponent. The Redbirds, who made a run to the FCS title game before falling to Montana State last year, beat the Leathernecks 41-10.
That means Wisconsin is facing a team that has already experienced a steep jump in competition from one week to the next, and now has to take another massive step up against a Big Ten opponent.
At quarterback, Western Illinois has leaned on Kennedy McGill and Cason Carswell. McGill handled most of the work in the opener and was sharp, completing 15 of 17 passes for 194 yards and two touchdowns.
Against Illinois State, both quarterbacks saw the field. McGill finished 14 of 22 for 123 yards with an interception, while Carswell went 9 of 18 for 140 yards.
Both are captains for the 2026 Leathernecks.
“We're still working through that. We've got two good players there,” Western Illinois head coach Joe Davis said this week. “They're both well respected players...what that rep count looks like on Saturday, we're still working through that, but we're gonna need both of these guys.”
For now, that quarterback split remains one of the more notable things to watch as Western Illinois heads into Saturday night.
In Other News...
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His first game there offered a reminder of what Wisconsin lost and why the separation made sense for both sides. Jones handled 23 carries for 113 yards and two touchdowns, showing the physical style that made him intriguing in the first place, while Wisconsin continued to wrestle with the offensive line issues that helped push him toward a fresh start. [Read more 🡒]
Wisconsin Already Has One Troubling Week 1 Reality Up Front
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The concern comes up front, where Wilkins had a rough afternoon against Notre Dames defense. His issues in both pass protection and run blocking stood out in a game where Wisconsin needed steadiness more than anything else, and that makes the conversation around the offensive line feel a little more urgent already. One game is only one game, but for a team trying to establish itself, the first real test exposed a spot the Badgers cannot afford to let linger. [Read more 🡒]
Even Wisconsin's Next Opponent Sees A Different Badgers Team
Western Illinois is heading into its matchup with Wisconsin with a clear-eyed view of what it is walking into, but also with a little more respect for what the Badgers look like now. Coach Joe Davis said Wisconsin has rebuilt its roster well, leaning on transfer help to reshape the team after the loss to Notre Dame, and he singled out quarterback Colton Joseph as part of the reason the Badgers look different from the version opponents may have seen before.
For the Leathernecks, the talent gap is obvious, and nobody in the program is pretending otherwise. Even so, Western Illinois views the game as meaningful and plans to approach it with real intent, treating an FCS trip to face an FBS opponent as more than a paycheck week. How much that renewed Wisconsin look translates on the field is still the question, and it is one the Badgers will want answered quickly. [Read more 🡒]