Many of the Badger faithful expected Wisconsin (2-1 Big Ten, 5-2 overall) to roll over a weak Purdue team (0-3, 1-6). While it wasn’t as lopsided as expected in the beginning, UW defeated the Boilermakers by a respectable 24-7 score.
The game started slow, which was a surprise to many considering Purdue’s lackluster recent Big Ten history, winning only one conference game the past two seasons. The Boilermakers have shown flashes of greatness this year, only losing by three to highly touted Michigan State, and playing strong in the first half against UW.
On the first drive of the game, Wisconsin marched down the field in chunks both through the air and on the ground. Despite junior running back Dare Ogunbowale leading the squad down the field, redshirt freshman running back Alec Ingold punched it in for a four-yard score, giving the Badgers a 7-0 lead.
Ingold switched over from defense a few weeks ago, but has made his presence known by rushing for 93 yards and three touchdowns in the last four weeks. He has certainly earned his spot in the injury-depleted backfield.
“I gotta make the most of them with everybody coming back healthy in a couple weeks… [they] might not be coming as often,” Ingold said.
A few drives later, the Badgers were facing a third-and-long in the red zone when senior quarterback Joel Stave overthrew a wide open receiver, and his pass was intercepted by Purdue’s junior safety Leroy Clark, who took the ball to the opposite 29-yard line. Purdue then rushed it way into the end zone for a 7-7 tie.
Kicker Rafael Gaglianone’s sophomore slump continued in the first half, as he made a 28-yard kick to put the Badgers up 10-7, but his missed 35-yarder with four seconds left soured what was an otherwise impressive two-minute drill by Wisconsin. Gaglianone is now 9-of-15 on the season, compared to last year’s solid 19-of-22. Today’s miss was due to a defensive tip after the kick, which is a potentially demoralizing situation, but Gaglianone kept it in perspective.
“I feel like I became a better kicker than I was last year, but sometimes it just doesn’t show up,” Gaglianone said. “If somebody jumps the gap or what not, we can’t control that, we just got to focus on the next one.”
After both teams stalled on drive after drive in the third, UW faced a critical moment. Following a poor punt by Purdue, the Badgers started on the Boilermaker 33. A few passes later, they found themselves four yards from the end zone, and Ogunbowale carried multiple defenders into the end zone as he powered his way to a 17-7 Wisconsin lead as the third quarter expired.
The run game was only moderately successful, with the pass game shouldering the majority of the burden, but all of the Badgers’ scores were on the ground.
“We took what they gave us. They definitely made it a point to try to stop the run with the amount of people in the box, so that made it tough for our O-line and tight ends,” Ogunbowale said.
The score broke the stall that had lasted since early in the second quarter, and the Badgers used the momentum to march down the field and score again on their next drive. Wisconsin faced a fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line, and took the risk of going for it to essentially end the game. Ingold looked like he was stopped short, but moved around, found a hole and plunged into the end zone to make the score 24-7, which would end up being the final score.
Another week, another standout defensive performance by the Badgers, allowing only one score to their opponents and stuffing the stat sheet as well, but the usual suspects weren’t the ones dominating. This week redshirt freshman linebacker T.J. Edwards led the way with 16 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble. Despite the statistical dominance, head coach Paul Chryst says the squad doesn’t focus on the post-game stat sheet.
“Whoever gets that stat, so be it…Those numbers are real, but this defense, the reason it’s playing well is these guys don’t care about the numbers, they care about playing together and being a part of a good defense, and I think that starts with the leadership,” Chryst said.
Next Saturday, Wisconsin will travel to Urbana-Champaign to take on the Illinois Fighting Illini (1-1, 4-2) in a 2:30 tilt.
