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EVANSTON, Illinois (Ticker) -- Ron Dayne carried 35 times for 162 yards and two touchdowns as 11th-ranked Wisconsin cruised to a 35-19 victory over Big Ten Conference foe Northwestern. Dayne moved within six yards of 6,000 for his career and within 320 of Ricky Williams' all-time NCAA record. He has 1,396 yards on 244 carries this season and 5,994 yards during his career, excluding bowl games. "We've been sensitive to that," Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez said of Williams' record. "Now, it's down to the last two games. Whatever we can do to get Ron that record, we're going to try to do that within the concept of trying to win the game." Redshirt freshman quarterback Brooks Bollinger accounted for two TDs and cornerback Jamar Fletcher returned an interception 93 yards for a score as Wisconsin (7-2, 5-1 Big Ten) won its fifth straight game. Bollinger improved to 5-0 as a starter and helped the Badgers move to 53-29-5 all-time against Northwestern (3-5, 1-4). They have more victories against the Wildcats than any other team. Northwestern has lost four of its last five games overall and 12 of its last 13 conference matchups. The Wildcats snapped an 11-game Big Ten skid two weeks ago with a 23-21 win over Iowa. Dayne rumbled through a huge hole and scored from 24 yards with 19 seconds left in the first quarter as Wisconsin went ahead 14-0. His five-yard score 3:27 into the fourth quarter increased the lead to 28-3. "My offensive line is great," he said. "They come out and play hard every day. They're just a great group of guys." With two TDs, Dayne has 61 during his career, seven shy of former Indiana running back Anthony Thompson's Big Ten record. "He's a great back. He's got great feet," Wildcats coach Randy Walker said. "If you don't take care of your responsibilities, if you don't play in your gaps, then he's in the back side of the cut, or he explodes into the place of that hole." Dayne will reach another milestone next week at Purdue. With six more yards rushing, he will become the third player in NCAA history to accumulate 6,000 yards, joining Williams and Tony Dorsett. "I just go out and play hard every week, and the records and the awards come at the end," Dayne said. Bollinger rushed for 39 yards and completed 6-of-11 passes for 89 yards and a touchdown with one interception. He opened the scoring with a five-yard scramble and added a 27-yard TD pass to Chris Chambers with 4:35 to play. The Badgers built a 21-3 lead on Fletcher's 93-yard interception return, the third-longest in school history. Fletcher tied a Big Ten record with his fourth career interception for a TD. "I thought our defense came up with some big plays," Alvarez said. "They did what they had to do." Defensive back Mike Echols also had an interception for Wisconsin, which has won by an average of more than 26 points during its five-game winning streak. "I feel we didn't play as well as we did the last few weeks," Alvarez added. "We made more errors than we made in the last few weeks on both sides of the ball." The Wildcats were held to only three points through three quarters before Damien Anderson scored on an eight-yard run and Nick Kreinbrink flipped a one-yard TD pass to fullback Ian Miller. Northwestern made two-point conversions after each score. Anderson carried 25 times for 102 yards and Zak Kustok completed 17-of-28 passes for 144 yards with two interceptions for Northwestern, which totaled 347 yards of offense to 296 for the Badgers.
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