The Wisconsin Badgers came out with a chip on their shoulder against the Purdue Boilermakers this weekend, picking up a 42-10 victory to open up Big Ten conference play. After controversially losing to Arizona State the week before, Gary Andersen's bunch let out some frustration on the Boilermakers, who were overmatched on both sides of the football.
Purdue vs. Wisconsin reaction: Badgers bite back with 42-10 victory
Coming off a highly-controversial loss in the desert, Wisconsin left nothing up to the referees on Saturday.
For those who missed the game, here are the highlights:
Our Wisconsin blog, Bucky’s 5th Quarter, was not only impressed with the Badgers running the football for 388 yards, but with how well the defense played:
Purdue's offense, led by quarterback Rob Henry, never established a comfort level. The Badgers' defense allowed the Boilermakers just 45 yards on the ground and 180 total, as the team only scored on a broken play that ended up being a 22-yard rushing touchdown for Henry and a field goal set up by an interception thrown by Wisconsin quarterback Joel Stave.
"We did have a few things bounce their way and we responded well," (senior linebacker) Chris Borland said. "Those things will happen from time to time, but I thought we played very well today."
The folks over at Hammer and Rails were not as pleased with how the Boilermakers played on defense. It was more of the same for a team that has continually struggled against Wisconsin over the years:
Purdue was unable to stop the power running game and the Badgers ran all over Purdue to the tune of 388 yards.
It is really a tiring refrain at this point. Purdue is hardly a textbook tackling team, but once again, they somehow got infinitely worse against Wisconsin. When Wisconsin did choose to throw, Jared Abbrederis, who is only an all-Big Ten caliber receiver and their lone reliable target, was roaming uncovered in most situations.
Our Big Ten hub, Off Tackle Empire, was thoroughly impressed with how the Badgers battled back after last weekend’s fiasco:
Anyone worrying about a Wisconsin hangover from the debacle in the desert had nothing to worry about, apparently. Melvin Gordon deserves to be in the Heisman discussion at this point, as he had another dominant performance (147 yards rushing, 3 TDs), and he was bolstered by James White (145 yards, 1 TD) and Corey Clement (83 yards, 1 TD).
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