MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- One of Ron Dayne's biggest obstacles in his quest for a national rushing record might be teammate Nick Davis.

	Ron Dayne ran for a touchdown and 158 yards against Ball State.

Dayne moved 158 yards closer to Ricky Williams' NCAA major-college record, and Davis returned a kickoff for a touchdown as Wisconsin (No. 8 ESPN/USA Today, No. 9 AP) rolled over Ball State 50-10 Saturday.

Davis' dazzling kickoff and punt returns are shortening the field for the Badgers almost every time he touches the ball. He has two touchdowns on kick returns already this season, and he nearly broke a third against the Cardinals.

That means less time on the field for Dayne, who needs 1,424 yards in Wisconsin's nine remaining games to beat the mark of 6,279 set by the Texas Heisman Trophy winner last season.

"To get points and set up field position, to be threats every time we get the ball kicked to us, that's impressive," Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez said.

Dayne finished with 31 carries that included a 2-yard rush for a touchdown, his fourth of the season, in the third quarter.

"I wanted to break one, but I just kept plugging away, and I felt fine with that," Dayne said.

Davis racked up 227 yards on kick returns, pass receptions and rushes. Davis, who had a 76-yard touchdown punt return last week against Murray State, made a beautiful 77-yard TD run on the free kick following a second-quarter safety.

He also started at wide receiver in place of injured junior Chris Chambers and had four catches for 91 yards.

"It's good to take some pressure off Ron, because Ron can't carry the whole team," Davis said.

Dayne carried nine times for 57 yards on Wisconsin's opening drive, but saw the ball just 11 more times in the first half for a total of 98 yards. He sat out the fourth quarter and needs 321 yards to pass Ohio State's Archie Griffin as the Big Ten Conference's leading career rusher.

Dayne, who was 14th on the NCAA's career rushing list entering the game, moved to 11th with 4,856 yards. He passed Ed Marinaro of Cornell, Nebraska's Mike Rozier and Steve Bartalo of Colorado State.

"He's so big and strong that if you don't get his ankles, you just bounce off him," Cardinals safety Jade Winchell said. "He's as big as some of our linemen, so he wears you down."

The Badgers' offensive performance wasn't as smooth as the final score might suggest. Wisconsin didn't score an offensive touchdown in the first half despite having more than 20 minutes of possession, twice stalling inside the Cardinals' 20.

Thanks in part to two penalties, the Cardinals (0-2) lost 20 yards in three plays on their first possession of the game. Nose tackle Eric Mahlik and several Badgers swarmed Quavis Tate in the end zone for a safety.

"We could not run the ball a lick," Ball State coach Bill Lynch said. "Not many people can run the ball on them. With our running game, my No. 1 priority (is) don't play Wisconsin again. We couldn't block them."

On the ensuing kickoff, Davis wowed the Camp Randall Stadium crowd of 75,807 with a graceful kickoff return, three times dodging potential trouble and outrunning the field into the end zone. It was the Badgers' first kickoff return for a touchdown since 1995.

Senior linebacker Chris Ghidorzi returned a tipped pass 25 yards for a touchdown early in the second quarter, staking Wisconsin to a 19-0 lead.

Shortly after halftime, Scott Kavanagh hit fullback Chad Kuhns with a 6-yard touchdown pass. Wisconsin's last TD came on a 2-yard run by Michael Bennett with eight seconds to play.

Ball State had 21 rushing yards on 27 attempts as Wisconsin's oversized front line showed no openings. The Badgers, who play at Cincinnati next week before their Sept. 25 showdown with Michigan, allowed just 93 rushing yards to Murray State last week.

Wisconsin's two-headed quarterback strategy again had mixed results, with starter Kavanagh and freshman Brooks Bollinger making mistakes. Kavanagh overthrew Davis late in the first quarter when Davis was open, prompting a crutch-throwing tantrum by Alvarez.

Wisconsin's coach watched the game on crutches because of a persistent knee injury.

Bollinger erred as well, wildly tossing a pitch past Dayne on an option play inside the Ball State 20. The fumble was returned 23 yards by Marion Llewellyn, and Ball State then went on a 59-yard drive capped by Brian Conn's 5-yard touchdown pass to Billy Lynch with 2:15 left in the first half.

Bollinger had a 32-yard keeper two plays later to set up Vitaly Pisetsky's 53-yard field goal, third-longest in Wisconsin history, 34 seconds before halftime. Pisetsky missed a 27-yarder earlier in the half.