They say it’s better to be lucky than good.

NIU proved Saturday against Wisconsin that right now, it’s neither.

A simple flip of a coin before kick-off at Camp Randall all but doomed the Huskies before they even took the field.

The Badgers winning the coin toss gave UW coach Brett Bielema just the opportunity he was looking for to set the tone for the game.

“We wanted the ball when we won the coin toss,” the second-year coach said.

“We wanted to be aggressive and we challenged P.J. [Hill] and our other running backs. We told them the game was going to be about how they performed.”

True to his word, the game was about how they performed, or out-performed, NIU’s running game on their way to a 44-3 route of the Huskies.

On the opening drive of the game, Hill had six carries for 20 yards as the Badgers scored on a passing play. The second drive, Hill decided to do it himself, ricocheting his way 72 yards to the end zone on the first play.

“With those big backs, you have to tackle at the ankles, and a couple of times we did a nice job,” NIU head coach Joe Novak said. “Other times, we bounced right off of his thigh bone.”

Hill finished with 184 yards while topping the 1000-yard mark on the season. As a team, the Badgers scored four of their five touchdowns on the ground, as they rushed for a combined 331 yards while pounding the ball into the Huskies’ defense 55 times.

On the opposite end was NIU’s negative 13 rushing yards. Sophomore Justin Anderson, who was one of the nation’s leading rushers heading into the game, gained just 14 yards on 13 carries while the rest of the rushes went for negative yards.

NIU’s offense had plenty of time to think over its strategy during the game on the sideline. Wisconsin’s rushing attack helped the Badgers play ball-control offense and allowed them to keep possession of the ball for a lopsided 39:37, including all but 1:47 of the final quarter.