This has not been a great year for Purdue Football. The preseason hype around this team centered around head coach Jeff Brohm and All-American receiver Rondale Moore. Brohm, having coached the Boilermakers since 2017, has put this program back into a contending position.
However, this year, the Boilermakers have stumbled to a 4-6 record after losing Moore and stud quarterback Elijah Sindalar to injury. Currently, however, the Boilermakers are on a two-game win streak, beating Big Ten bottom feeders in the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Northwestern Wildcats.
The Badgers should expect to face third-string sophomore and Academic All-Big Ten quarterback Aiden O’Connell, who has played relatively well in the absence of Sindelar and backup Jack Plummer. O’Connell threw 50 passes last week against Northwestern, so the Badgers can expect him to be slinging it around on Jim Leonhard’s secondary.
Conversely, the Boilermakers have struggled to run the football, with lead back King Doerue averaging less than four yards-per-carry all season. The biggest playmaker this team has on the offensive end is receiver David Bell, who has almost 800 receiving yards on the season and over 70 catches.
Even though the offense for Purdue University has really struggled, the defensive side of the ball is not any better. The Boilermakers allow almost 410 yards of offense to opposing teams and only have eight total turnovers on the year. This is a team in desperate need to retool over the offseason, but has a chance to be much better next year if they get healthy.
This game is likely Jonathan Taylor’s last home game as a Wisconsin Badger, and it seems to be shaping up to be pretty lopsided. Even though Purdue is on a two-game win streak, the Badgers should be able to handle this extremely injured offense, as well as put up some major points in what is likely Jonathan Taylor’s last time playing in Camp Randall as a Badger, as well as one of his last chances to ball out enough to earn him a spot in New York as a Heisman Finalist.
