Though the scoreboard showed a 26-23 loss to Purdue, the final statistics did not show that same close game. Wisconsin was abused by Purdue's passing game.
Junior quarterback Kyle Orton used a mix of short tosses and deep bombs to take advantage of a thinned-out Badger secondary that has been plagued by injury. The tandem of junior wideout Taylor Stubblefield and senior receiver John Standeford piled up 30 catches for 314 yards and a touchdown between the two of them.
\That is a really good one-two punch. Stubblefield is a quick guy and Standeford is a bigger guys. It's just a good one-two punch,"" cornerback Scott Starks said.
Orton finished the day throwing 55 times, completing 38 of the attempts for 411 yards and a touchdown. Head Coach Barry Alvarez said he figured on Purdue to pass the ball on Wisconsin, but was caught unaware that it would be as frequent as it was.
""I didn't know we'd get that many [pass attempts thrown by Orton], but I anticipated that that would be the type of attack they'd try,"" Alvarez said.
On the Wisconsin side of the ball, turnovers ended up being the demise to the Badgers. On the first two offensive drives of the game, senior quarterback Jim Sorgi threw an interception and caused a fumble, leading to 14 points for the Boilermakers. Junior running back Anthony Davis and sophomore wide receiver Owen Daniels also fumbled the ball, but Purdue could not get any points on the successive drives.
""You can't turn the ball over four times against Purdue like we did and expect to win,"" a sullen senior linebacker Jeff Mack said.
However, Alvarez is not going to completely blame his offense for the lack of production today, as Purdue is one of the best defenses in the conference. Today, he kept a strong UW offensive attack in check.
""Give them credit,"" Alvarez said. ""It's always easy to point fingers and say 'We didn't do this and didn't do that' but give them credit. That same outfit that led the league last year in defense.""
What kept Wisconsin in the game were two key touchdowns by Mack and junior safety Jim Leohnard. After senior linebacker Alex Lewis sacked Orton for one of his five sacks in the game and caused a fumble, Mack returned it 55 yards for a touchdown early in the second quarter to trim the score to 14-13.
After being down 23-16, the defense held Purdue and forced them to punt. Leohnard returned the punt 63 yards to tie the game at 23-23.
The return for a touchdown is the second of the season for Leonhard, yet it was not enough to put Purdue away. On the ensuing drive, Orton again ravaged the UW secondary and allowed the Boilermakers to seal the victory with a field goal.
Purdue exposed to the nation the serious crack in the Wisconsin armor by picking away at its secondary. If UW hopes to stay in the running for the Big Ten title, the coverage issue needs to be addressed otherwise the roses in the eyes of many Badger fans may fade out of sight for good this season.
