No. 5 Wisconsin rolls into game at Illinois

Wisconsin celebrated its homecoming last week with a 38-13 rout of Maryland.

On Saturday, the No. 5 Badgers are heavy favorites to spoil the homecoming of Big Ten foe Illinois. Wisconsin (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) is off to its best start since 2004, positioning itself for a shot at the College Football Playoff.

The reasons are many, but the biggest might be a defense that ranks in the top 10 nationally in three critical categories -- rushing (88.0), scoring (13.3) and total defense (265.4). What's more, it's a defense that sounds far from satisfied.

"We hold ourselves to a high standard on defense and when things don't go almost perfect, people start questioning what's going on," said inside…