For three weeks the doubts and questions festered. Can the Badgers respond well to a loss? How do they avoid the snowball effect that led to a four-game losing streak last season?
On Saturday they had the chance to answer those doubts, and the answer came loud and clear.
Wisconsin dominated Purdue at home with a 37-0 victory, overpowering a team that was riding high after two big wins. The Badgers opened the game with 11 straight runs and rode their ground game for most of the Halloween contest.
""It's tough to come in after a loss and then when you have a bye week it feels like you're reliving it every day, you have that bad taste in your mouth,"" Junior guard John Moffitt said. ""It's nice to get a win. I think we were all itching to get out there and really do what we do best.""
And for the UW offense, what they do best is run the football. The Badgers went with their power package, often using two tight ends, a full back and a running back, and rolled up 266 rushing yards. Leading the way was sophomore running back John Clay, who ran for 104 yards and two scores by halftime before finishing with 123 yards.
The Wisconsin coaches, in looking at film, noted Purdue's defense had only faced around a dozen snaps against power formations like the heavier sets the Badgers run.
""We knew that no one had really done what we do against them to this point,"" Bielema said. ""We really thought that would be something we could take advantage of, put a body on a body, lean forward and see what happens.""
A surprise element of the running game was junior tight end Lance Kendricks. The Milwaukee native is more known for his pass catching and blocking, but Saturday he opened the game with 21 yards on an end-around and gained 91 yards, including the longest Wisconsin play of the day for 54 yards.
It was the most productive day on the ground this season for any UW runner not named John Clay.
The Badgers usually employ the end around with speed players like receivers Isaac Anderson and David Gilreath. Kendricks gave it more of a power look and felt it caught the Boilermaker defense off guard.
""Lance, he read the blocks right, like I'm supposed to read off him when he wraps for me,"" Clay said. ""I told him he can have all the yards, I was like, he can get down to the five all the time and I'll just take the touchdown.""
Clay had three of them on the day, and the only other time a Badger took it into the end zone, came on special teams. With under five minutes to go in the first half, freshman defensive end David Gilbert leapt over the three man shield for Purdue's senior punter Chris Summers and sent his kick rolling backwards. Senior corner Aaron Henry scooped up the ball and ran it in to put the Badgers up 24-0.
The play was reminiscent of a leaping block fellow freshman Chris Borland had against Wofford earlier in the season.
Bielema said that he noticed those blockers getting lower and lower and finally Gilbert asked if he could try to jump over them. The answer, ""absolutely, knock yourself out.""
""His nickname around the locker room is Dwight Howard,"" sophomore corner Aaron Henry said. ""The kid has ability like out of this world. There's muscles on him that I've never seen on a normal human being ... He's a special teams animal.""
After the game, many of the players called it the most complete game they had played all season, something they were looking for even during a 5-0 start.
""They were kind of hungry and played with a chip on their shoulder and responded out there very well today,"" Bielema said. ""I thought our offense, defense, special teams, those guys went out there with an attitude and played four quarters, something we've been trying to get done since our first game and I'm glad it's happening.""
