EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) -- The Wisconsin Badgers were bound to cool off eventually. When they did, Ron Dayne and Jamar Fletcher got them a win anyway.

Dayne rushed for 162 yards and two touchdowns, and Fletcher returned an interception 93 yards for a score as No. 11 Wisconsin struggled before beating Northwestern 35-19 Saturday.

	Ron Dayne rushes 24 yards for a touchdown in the Badgers' 35-19 win.

Wisconsin (7-2, 5-1 Big Ten) won its fifth straight game and remained directly behind unbeaten No. 2 Penn State in the conference race, but the Badgers didn't always look like the team that routed Michigan State and Indiana the last two weekends.

The Badgers offense that ran up 1,065 total yards in its last two games managed just 296, and Northwestern had nearly as many yards (347) as the Badgers allowed in the last two (350). A stiff north wind reduced Wisconsin's passing game to non-existence, and Wildcats tailback Damien Anderson rushed for 102 yards and a score.

But the Badgers made two key interceptions that helped cover up a poor defensive performance, and Dayne never quit working against the Wildcats' (3-5, 1-4) aggressive defense. Interceptions by Fletcher and Mike Echols killed two big Northwestern drives and led the Badgers to a relatively easy win on a difficult afternoon.

"We've just been playing so very well," said Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez, who watched another game from the press box because of his sore knee. "I don't know how long you can sustain that level of play. We were due for a game like this, just from the law of averages."

Dayne, who played the entire game for the first time in four weeks, needs 321 yards in Wisconsin's final two games against Purdue and Iowa to break Ricky Williams' major-college career rushing record. He is 124 yards from passing Tony Dorsett for second place on the list.

"My offensive line is great," Dayne said. "I love those guys."

On a gorgeous, breezy day at Ryan Field -- which was about two-thirds full of Wisconsin fans -- Dayne's 5-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter put the game away. It was the 68th TD of his career, tying him with Indiana's Anthony Thompson for the Big Ten career record.

Wisconsin led 28-3 midway through the fourth quarter before Northwestern scored two late touchdowns. Freshman quarterback Brooks Bollinger passed for one score and ran for another.

"We definitely lost our intensity today," receiver Chris Chambers said. "You try to avoid it, but games like this are going to happen. We just have to make sure it happens once."

The Wildcats threw disastrous interceptions, and their eight penalties for 64 yards allowed Wisconsin to win handily, if not easily.

"We missed some opportunities, but still found ourselves in game late in third quarter," Northwestern coach Randy Walker said. "Good teams make the plays and capitalize. Three-and-five teams don't."

Dayne had 81 rushing yards in the first quarter, including 24 on a touchdown run through a huge hole opened by his offensive line. Dayne sprinted untouched into the end zone to make the score 14-0, but after that run, Northwestern's defense began to win control of the line of scrimmage.

Northwestern had its only scoring chance of the first half when it capitalized on a partially blocked Stemke punt and drove to the Badgers' 6 in the final minute, but Echols intercepted Zak Kustok's pass into double coverage in the end zone.

Dayne committed a rare fumble -- just the ninth of his entire career -- on the first play of the second half, and Tim Long's 22-yard field goal cut the Badgers' lead to 14-3.

The Wildcats were driving again when Fletcher intercepted a tipped pass at his own 7, ran 50 yards up the left sideline, reversed field and ran for the opposite corner of the end zone. With five yards to go, Fletcher threw a wicked shoulder shake at the last Northwestern tackler and pranced into the end zone.

"I was pretty exhausted by then, so I was trying to lull him to sleep and then put on the jets," Fletcher said.

Fletcher, a sophomore, has already returned four interceptions for touchdowns in his career, tying the Big Ten record. He picked off two passes in the Badgers' win over Michigan State last week and has five on the year.

Down 28-3, Northwestern made a quick touchdown drive capped by Anderson's 8-yard TD run with 6:51 to play. But an onsides kick failed, and Bollinger hit Chambers with a 24-yard touchdown pass with 4:35 left to make it 35-11.

Northwestern added a final touchdown, capping an 80-yard drive with Ian Miller's 1-yard TD reception with 43 seconds left. The Wildcats were successful on a two 2-point conversions.

Wisconsin left tackle Chris McIntosh started his 47th game for the Badgers, breaking the school record for starts.