Badgers Top Boilermakers, Move Up In BCS Standings

The Wisconsin Badgers (8-1, 4-1 Big Ten) beat the Purdue Boilermakers (4-5, 2-3 Big Ten) on Saturday.

Purdue came out hot and was all over the Badgers for most of the first half. After trailing the Boilermakers 10-6 at halftime, the Badgers held Purdue to just a field goal and scored four touchdowns in the second half on their way to a commanding 34-13 victory.

"Give credit to Purdue, they came in all jacked up," Bielema said. "At halftime, we regrouped, I changed my jacket. I think we just wanted to take a different approach to the second half and relax. I told the guys that we didn't need any superhuman effort, we just need to go out there and execute the fundamentals of what we do."

The Badgers calmed down in the second half and stuck to their gameplan to come away victorious.

Once again, defense and the running game led the Badgers to victory. The Badgers forced four turnovers, including three interceptions. Cornerback Antonio Fenelus had a career high nine tackles, recovered a fumble, and returned an interception for a touchdown. Fenelus was named a Big Ten co-Defensive Player of the Week after his efforts Saturday (award shared with Penn State linebacker Michael Mauti).

Linebackers Mike Taylor and Culmer St. Jean added interceptions, and Taylor, JJ Watt, and Pat Muldoon each picked up a sack.

The Badger offense saw most of its production come from running back Montee Ball. With James White out with an injury and John Clay not quite 100%, Ball saw the majority of the carries on offense. Ball had 21 carries for 127 yards and found the endzone twice.

"I knew I was going to play this game, get more carries than I did before in a game situation," Ball said. "I knew the team was going to look at me and expect me to carry the load. I didn't want to let them down at all."

Clay gained 42 yards on 12 carries.  He needs just 71 yards to reach 1,000 yards on the season, and has three more games to accomplish this feat for the second straight year.

With the victory the Badgers moved from #9 to #7 in the BCS standings. The Big Ten currently has four teams (#9 Ohio State, #11 Michigan State, and #13 Iowa the other three) in the top 13 teams in the nation.

Next weekend the Badgers face Indiana (4-5, 0-5 Big Ten) at home.