BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — It was so long ago that only one member of the current Wisconsin football team was alive when it happened.
UW defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard was in middle school, Wisconsin Director of Athletics Chris McIntosh had just reached his 20s and UW coach Paul Chryst was in the first of his 12 seasons as a Power Five assistant, serving as the offensive coordinator at Oregon State. Sixth-year senior outside linebacker Noah Burks was 4 months old.
The last time the Badgers lost to Purdue in West Lafayette, Indiana, was Oct. 18, 1997. The Boilermakers rolled to a 45-20 victory behind quarterback Billy Dicken, who threw for 311 yards and three touchdowns. His backup that day was a freshman named Drew Brees.
Wisconsin has won eight consecutive games at Ross-Ade Stadium since then and 14 straight in the series overall going back to 2004. Both streaks are on the line Saturday when unranked UW (3-3 overall, 1-2 in the Big Ten Conference) faces No. 25 Purdue (4-2, 2-1) at 2 p.m.
That road streak for the Badgers at Purdue is tied for their longest current run of success away from Camp Randall Stadium. Their last road loss at Minnesota was in 2003.
Here are five more things to know:
In A Rush
The last time the Badgers played at Purdue, in 2018, then-sophomore running back Jonathan Taylor scored three touchdowns and rushed for a career-best 321 yards on 33 carries during a 47-44 victory in triple overtime. It was the 43rd instance of UW ball-carrier topping 200 rushing yards going back to 1951. Nine of those have come against the Boilermakers, more than any other Big Ten opponent. Four have come in Ross-Ade Stadium. In addition to Taylor, you have Melvin Gordon in 2014 (205), Montee Ball in 2012 (247) and Ron Dayne in 1999 (244).
First Things First
The Badgers lead the nation in fewest first downs allowed via the rush with 20. That helps explain why UW has limited foes to a 27.1 percent conversion rate on third down, which ranks fifth among the 130 Football Bowl Subdivision schools.
Yin and Yang
During the Chryst coaching era, which began in 2015, Wisconsin is 5-0 vs. Purdue despite winning the turnover battle once and having a cumulative minus-3 giveaway rate. One way the Badgers have offset that deficit is by going 41-for-70 on third and fourth down (59.0%).
Passing Grade
At the halfway point of the regular season, Wisconsin has held opponents under 100 yards passing in a game three times: Eastern Michigan (76), Illinois (67) and Army (87). Going back to 2000, the only time UW has had more such games for an entire campaign was in 2011 when it had four such outings: South Dakota (49), Indiana (64), Ohio State (89) and Minnesota (51).
The Open Road
Since Chryst took over, UW is 14-4 on the road vs. Big Ten West opponents, including unbeaten marks against Minnesota (3-0), Nebraska (3-0) and Purdue (2-0).
