Wisconsin Badgers vs Purdue Boilermakers Recap

The Wisconsin Badgers came off of their off week in a big way shutting out the Purdue Boilermakers 37-0 at home. The Badgers had a lot of questions about their team after the two crushing losses to Ohio State and Iowa and rebounded in a huge way. In large part, thanks to another stellar performance from star running back and Racine native John Clay. Clay delivered 3 rushing touchdowns on the day to go along with a special teams play to give the Badgers the 4 touchdowns on the day. Clay showed why he leads the Big Ten in rushing touchdowns as he tacked on 3 more to his total on the season to go along with 123 yards rushing. And every one of those yards and touchdowns counted as starting quarterback Scott Tolzien still appeared to be shaken by the losses to the Hawkeyes and the Buckeyes. Tolzien was a mere 6-13 for 87 yards passing with no touchdowns and no interceptions. Granted his abilities were not entirely needed as it was the John Clay show in Madison, but concerns still fly about his ability to make plays when the rushing attack is shut down. Clay’s touchdown runs were from 1 yard, 1 yard and 4 yards out to put the finishing touches on some very good drives.

The big surprise in this game was a new play implemented by the Badger offense as a variation of the wide receiver reverse Badger fans had been accustomed to seeing during the season. As opposed to letting speedy receiver David Gilreath receiving the hand off, number two tight end Lance Kendricks received the reverse call 4 times ending up with a total of 91 yards rushing to go along with his 21 yards receiving on the day. Wide receiver Nick Toon led the team with 55 yards receiving on 3 catches and the Badgers were able to march on to victory. The most exciting play of the game happened in the second quarter when backup linebacker David Gilbert blocked a Purdue punt which would eventually roll into the end zone and be recovered by cornerback Aaron Henry to deliver the only non John Clay touchdown of the game.

The biggest story of this game has to go to the Wisconsin Badgers defense. Though it was easy to see that Purdue had lots of problems securing the ball with multiple fumbles and dropped passes, the Badgers defense held their ground and force many three and out punting situations for the Boilermakers. This is a great sign seeing as they really had a tough time against Ohio State and Iowa in their previous matchups, this showed a real confidence boost and what rest can do for this Wisconsin team. This game was projected to be very close with scoring in the high twenties or low thirties but only one team was able to find the end zone and rack up 30+ points. This is the first time all year that Purdue has been shut out. Coming into this game, they had never scored less than 14 points in a game. It was definitely a tale of two teams though, for Purdue, as this team that played Wisconsin was not the same team that was able to knock off Ohio State just two weeks prior to this game. The Badgers look forward to their next game as they take on the streaky Michigan Wolverines lead by new and troublesome head coach Rich Rodriguez. This will probably be the biggest challenge that Wisconsin has left on their schedule and the only thing keeping them from a high ranking bowl game and perhaps a spot in the BCS polls.

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