WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Only a Nov. 26 home game against Minnesota stands in Wisconsin’s path of earning at least a share of the Big Ten West title and playing in the conference’s championship game Dec. 3 in Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium.
Backup running back Bradrick Shaw and backup fullback Alec Ingold each scored two second-quarter touchdowns Saturday and No. 7 Wisconsin (9-2 overall, 6-2 Big Ten) recorded a 49-20 victory over Purdue at Ross-Ade Stadium.
Nebraska also improved to 9-2, 6-2 on Saturday with a victory over Maryland and will play at Iowa on Friday with a chance to share the West or win it if it defeats the Hawkeyes and Wisconsin falls at home to Minnesota.
If Wisconsin and Nebraska share the West title, Wisconsin goes to the Big Ten title game by virtue of a 23-17 overtime victory over the Cornhuskers on Oct. 29 in Madison.
Trailing 3-0 after one quarter Saturday, the Badgers scored 35 points during a 7:43 span of the second quarter, including touchdown runs of 7 and 33 yards by Shaw and a 1-yard run and a 19-yard reception for touchdowns by Ingold.
Badgers running back Corey Clement carried 27 times for 112 yards and a touchdown and has 1,040 rushing yards for the season. Clement is the 17th Wisconsin player to rush for at least 1,000 yards in a single season.
“It was tough sledding toward the beginning of this game, so I got to think about getting the win before I even start thinking about eclipsing 1,000 yards,” Clement said. “But I am very happy the 1,000 yards came when they did.”
The Wisconsin coaching staff was a bit nervous through 15 minutes.
“We struggled early running the ball and converting,” said Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst, whose Badgers finished with 412 yards and 23 first downs. “A couple of our screen passes were big plays and well-executed. I thought that got the running game going. Then, we got a lot of contributions.”
Purdue (3-8, 1-7) lost its sixth in a row and finished 0-4 in Big Ten home games.
Wisconsin, which has not lost at Purdue since 1997, also had a 17-yard interception return for a touchdown by outside linebacker T.J. Watt, the younger brother of Houston Texans’ star J.J. Watt.
“I’ve done that before in practice, but they always tell you that you are not going to get one of those in a game,” Watt said. “The ball just fell right into my hands after I got a piece of it.
“We pride ourselves on defense trying to get a stop for our offense and creating turnovers. We just try to build momentum.”
Watt’s pick-six pushed Wisconsin’s lead to 14-3, and the Badgers added an additional 21 second-quarter points.
“What a play by T.J. ... to knock it down is a really good play,” Chryst said. “Getting both of those interceptions in the second quarter changed the game.”
Badgers inside linebacker T.J. Edwards intercepted another pass by Purdue quarterback David Blough at the Boilermakers’ 19-yard line to set up the 19-yard touchdown pass from Bart Houston to Ingold, giving Wisconsin a 28-3 lead with 2:49 remaining in the first half.
Blough, who had three passes intercepted in the game-deciding second quarter, threw a 75-yard touchdown pass to DeAngelo Yancey 11 seconds later to slice the deficit to 28-10, but Wisconsin needed only 1:47 to grab a 35-10 halftime lead, getting Shaw’s 33-yard touchdown run with 51 seconds left.
The Badgers gained 228 second-quarter yards, setting the foundation for their fifth consecutive victory.
“Our guys played their guts out against a very good opponent,” said Purdue interim coach Gerad Parker, 0-5 since replacing the fired Darrell Hazell on Oct. 16. “We knew we had to win the turnover battle to have a chance. Early on, our defense bottled up the football, but then we lost some things in that turnover stretch in the second quarter.”
Alex Hornibrook’s 25-yard, third-quarter touchdown pass to Jazz Peavy gave Wisconsin a 42-13 lead at the 3:23 mark. Clements’ 6-yard touchdown run with 7:41 remaining in the game extended the lead to 49-13.
WISCONSIN 49 PURDUE 20
Wisconsin 0 35 7 7- 49
Purdue 3 7 3 7- 20
First Quarter
PUR-Dellinger 28 yard field goal, 4:56.
Second Quarter
WIS-Ingold 1 yard rush (Endicott kick), 8:34.
WIS-TJ.Watt 17 yard interception return (Endicott kick), 8:26.
WIS-B.Shaw 7 yard rush (Endicott kick), 3:03.
WIS-Ingold 19 yard pass from Ba.Houston (Endicott kick), 2:49.
PUR-De.Yancey 75 yard pass from Blough (Dellinger kick), 2:38.
WIS-B.Shaw 33 yard rush (Endicott kick), 0:51.
Third Quarter
PUR-Dellinger 30 yard field goal, 8:47.
WIS-J.Peavy 25 yard pass from Hornibrook (Endicott kick), 3:23.
Fourth Quarter
WIS-C.Clement 6 yard rush (Endicott kick), 7:41.
PUR-De.Yancey 10 yard pass from Blough (Dellinger kick), 4:15.
TEAM STATISTICS
WIS PUR
First Downs 25 16
Rushes-Yards 55-223 22-71
Passing 191 222
Sacked-Yds Lost 2-9 4-24
Comp-Att-Int 12-15-0 15-31-3
Return Yards 96 37
Punts 3-35.0 4-31.5
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 7-54 4-20
Time of Possession 38:27 21:33
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-WIS, C.Clement 27-112, B.Shaw 8-68, Deal 4-20, Ba.Houston 4-14, Q.Cephus 2-10, Ingold 4-6, Ogunbowale 2-(minus 2), Hornibrook 4-(minus 5). PUR, Lankford-Johnson 5-41, Mk.Jones 8-30, Blough 8-2, Wegher 1-(minus 2).
PASSING-WIS, Hornibrook 7-9-0-89, Ba.Houston 5-6-0-102. PUR, Blough 14-30-3-206, Sindelar 1-1-0-16.
RECEIVING-WIS, Ogunbowale 3-62, Fumagalli 3-52, Wheelwright 2-25, J.Peavy 1-25, Ingold 1-19, Q.Cephus 1-5, Steffes 1-3. PUR, De.Yancey 6-155, Gr.Phillips 3-17, C.Posey 2-12, Bi.Marshall 2-10, Herdman 1-16, Mk.Jones 1-12.
