BIG TEN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL
It was an especially long bye for the University of Wisconsin football players, who spent the past two weeks stewing over two straight losses.
"That was probably the longest bye week I've been a part of since I've been here," senior linebacker Jaevery McFadden said. "It felt like a month."
But rather than sink into the same black hole that swallowed up the team a year ago during a four-game losing streak, the Badgers went back to work with a vengeance.
The results were on display Saturday, a dominating 37-0 victory over Purdue in front of 79,920 fans at Camp Randall Stadium. In putting together their most complete performance this season, the Badgers improved to 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the Big Ten Conference.
"Sitting in a bye week with two losses isn't fun at all," sophomore defensive end J.J. Watt said. "We worked our tails off in the bye week. Then we came out here today and you saw the frustration we let out."
Even though Purdue (3-6, 2-3) was coming off back-to-back wins over Ohio State and Illinois, UW coach Bret Bielema insisted he saw this coming.
"Do I think they'll be surprised?" Bielema said of people's reaction to the margin of victory. "Absolutely. But if you ask anybody that's in this football family, they wouldn't be. I know what I see on a daily basis. ... They played with a chip, played with a little attitude. I knew it was going to come out."
The Badgers posted their first shutout against a Big Ten opponent since blanking Indiana 59-0 on Oct. 16, 1999. Their last shutout overall was a 14-0 win over San Diego State on Sept. 16, 2006. It was their largest margin of victory in a Big Ten game since a 41-3 win over Iowa on Nov. 13, 1999.
In addition to holding Purdue to season lows of 81 passing yards and 141 total yards, the defense forced three turnovers, which led to 10 points.
Special teams chipped in with a sensational blocked punt by freshman David Gilbert, which was returned 9 yards for a touchdown by Aaron Henry. Gilbert leaped over a blocker to get a hand on the ball, then landed on his head and finished off a cartwheel.
The offense got 123 rushing yards from John Clay and the only turnover was an interception thrown by backup quarterback Curt Phillips. It made for an easy day for starter Scott Tolzien, who completed 6 of 13 passes for 87 yards.
"The first complete football game I've seen this whole year," McFadden said.
The Badgers set the tone when they came out in their "22" personnel for their opening drive, meaning two backs -- with tight end Mickey Turner at fullback -- and two tight ends. After 11 straight runs, the Badgers had gone 80 yards and led 7-0. Clay finished it with a 1-yard run, the first of his three TD runs.
"I think it really showed them what kind of football we play," left guard John Moffitt said. "We're going to come straight at you, it's going to be like this the whole game."
The only hope the Boilermakers had, at that point, was standing on their sideline.
"We thought we'd be able to come out and handle their power running game," Purdue coach Danny Hope said. "We thought we'd be able to hold up to them. ... No, we did not see this coming."
Not only did the Badgers dominate in every aspect, they finished what they started. That was unlike the loss to Iowa two weeks ago, when they went ahead 10-0 in the second quarter, then fell apart in a 20-10 loss.
"I think everybody's whole question with our team was, 'Are we going to finish?' " free safety Chris Maragos told reporters. "What did you guys think? It was pretty good."
Leading 24-0 at halftime, the defense forced a three-and-out on Purdue's first series of the third quarter, which included two drops and a false-start penalty. The Badgers then tacked on Clay's third touchdown, set up by a 54-yard end around by tight end Lance Kendricks. That was one of four times Kendricks ran that play. He finished with 91 yards on the ground.
"We said we have to come out and finish this one off today," Tolzien said of the talk at halftime. "Saying it's one thing in the locker room. It's a good thing we were able to go out and actually put our words into action. There was no stopping us."
The Badgers are bowl eligible for a school-record eighth straight year. Each win they add to their total will help improve their bowl destination.
"It's something we have to build off of," senior defensive end O'Brien Schofield said. "We have to do this every time now that we know we can do it and we know what focus we need going into each game week."
Posted in Football, Tom_mulhern on Sunday, November 1, 2009 1:00 am Updated: 7:09 am. | Tags: Uw Football, Badgers, Purdue Boilermakers, Gameday,
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