Purdue Football Enters Week as Slight Underdog on the Road Against Wisconsin
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Riding a four-game winning streak that includes back-to-back road wins in Big Ten play, Purdue football sets its sights for yet another trip away from Ross-Ade Stadium when it travels to take on Wisconsin on Saturday.
The two teams are scheduled to kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisc. The Boilermakers — who haven't defeated the Badgers since 2003 — enter the week as 2-point underdogs, according to SIsportsbook.com. The over/under is 52 points as of Monday afternoon.
Purdue, now 5-2 on the season and 3-1 in the conference, is coming off a narrow 43-37 win over Nebraska that featured 608 yards of total offense. Sixth-year senior quarterback Aidan O'Connell threw for 391 yards and four touchdowns with one interception.
Redshirt freshman running back Devin Mockobee earned his first career start in the victory, carrying the ball 30 times for 178 yards and a score.
"Ready to put the last game behind us and move forward to the next one," Purdue coach Jeff Brohm said during his weekly press conference. "We know it's going to be a great challenge. We've had a hard time competing with Wisconsin since I've been here, and then really we haven't beat them in a good long while in general here at Purdue."
Saturday's matchup will be the 89th meeting between the two programs, with Wisconsin boasting a 51-29-8 record in the all-time series. The Badgers have won the last 15 games over the Boilermakers, including four victories during the Brohm era.
After starting the season 2-3, the program parted ways with head coach Paul Chryst, and defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard was chosen to be the interim coach.
Last week, Wisconsin lost 34-28 to Michigan State in overtime and fell to 3-4 on the year, which includes a 1-3 mark in the Big Ten. Sophomore running back Braelon Allen accounted for 123 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 29 attempts. He also added three catches for 33 yards in the passing game.
Through the first seven games of the season, the Badgers rank seventh in the conference in both scoring and total defense. They are allowing 21.6 points and 330.1 yards of offense per game.
"They're very good on defense, they always have been," Brohm said. "They have a great scheme, they are coached very well. They play hard and make you earn it. On offense, historically they've always been great at running the football. Big up front, not beating themselves, controlling the clock, and that will be a challenge."
A win for Purdue on Saturday would mark the team's first five-game winning streak since the 2007 season and clinch the program's fourth bowl game under Brohm. The Boilermakers have won seven of their last 10 games away from West Lafayette since the start of last season.
"Once again, we have to have another good week of practice," Brohm said. "Get guys back as healthy as we can, improve upon the mistakes that we made last week and the weeks before, and try to go out there and execute and play at a high level."
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D.J. Fezler is a staff writer for BoilermakersCountry.com. Hailing from The Region, he is from Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana and has spent the last two years covering Purdue football and basketball.