After a thrilling and much-needed win against the Nebraska Cornhuskers, the Badgers return home next week to face the Purdue Boilermakers. And while the Boilermakers are still the bottom of the Big Ten barrel, they are much improved from previous seasons.
On paper, Purdue (0-2 Big Ten, 1-5 overall) has two of the worst losses in college football. They were defeated by both Marshall and Bowling Green, teams that no program in a Power Five conference should lose to. But upon further examination, those losses aren’t as bad as they seem.
Marshall won 13 games last season and with many returning starters is actually quite a formidable foe. Bowling Green, led by quarterback Matt Johnson, sports a passing offense that ranks in the top five in the NCAA.
The Boilermakers’ defense is by far their weakest unit. A Virginia Tech team that scored a mere 13 points against the University of Pittsburgh was able to feast upon the Boilermakers soft secondary, putting up 51 points in West Lafayette.
They were though able to hold the Michigan State Spartans offense to just three points in the second half of their Big Ten opener two weeks ago, which presented an encouraging sign to the Boilermakers. Yet their defense was unable to build on those successes as they gave up 41 points to Minnesota this past Saturday.
Tragically for Purdue, sophomore linebacker and captain JaWhaun Bentley tore his ACL the Wednesday before their matchup with Minnesota. Bentley led the team in both tackles and tackles for loss.
Luckily for the Boilermakers, the Badgers offense still has yet to put together four consistent quarters on offense.
But after another week of struggles, the Purdue program can’t wait until after their game against the Badgers to enter their bye week, a week in which they are guaranteed to not lose.
Head coach Darrell Hazell, now in his third season, has just one Big Ten win over that time span. While Hazell has a positive outlook on his football team, the lack of progress must be frustrating for him.
Offensive coordinator John Shoop came to Purdue in 2013 as well after five years at the University of North Carolina and 12 seasons coaching in the NFL. Even with such experience, Shoop has seen little success.
Quarterback David Blough continues to struggle for the Boilermakers and most if not all of his positive numbers, both yards and touchdowns, have come in garbage time.
An interesting player to watch on offense though is true freshman Markell Jones. Against the traditionally stout Michigan State rush defense, Jones had 157 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries. Early in the second half, Jones exploded for a 68-yard run, silencing the Spartan faithful.
Jones, though, saw almost no action against the Golden Gophers as sophomore D.J. Knox, the starter to open the season, received most of the carries. Jones has shown the ability to quiet a crowd before, so if the Badgers defense isn’t careful, they could run into major problems.
Nevertheless, after two tough games against Iowa and Nebraska, the Badgers should have a much easier time against Purdue. If they do struggle on either defense or offense, however, it will be yet another reminder of the inconsistency of this year’s team.
