42. Wisconsin 49, Purdue 20 (2016)

The Badgers were a surprising team in 2016. Beginning the season unranked, Wisconsin burst onto the season with a win over No. 5 LSU. Bucky won the first four before dropping a pair of heartbreakers to Michigan and Ohio State. The Badgers rebounded for four straight, though, heading into a game in West Lafayette against the 3-7 Purdue Boilermakers, who had lost five in a row and had given up an average of 45.4 points per game in those contests. The matchup was looked at as a ‘name your score’ type of game and it turned out to be just that. Purdue began the game well defensively, but a 35-point second quarter turned the tide and the Badgers ran away with a 49-20 win in West Lafayette, their seventh consecutive victory at Ross-Ade Stadium.

Wisconsin began the game slow, gaining 38 yards in its first two drives, both ending in punts. Purdue converted a 14-play drive into a short field goal to give the Boilermakers the 3-0 lead after the first quarter. On its second possession, Purdue drove into Wisconsin territory, but were ultimately stopped by the Badgers defense on 3^rd-and-9 from the 41.

The Badgers took four and a half minutes to go 87 yards to give the team the lead for good. Bradrick Shaw started the drive with a 31-yard jaunt on the second play to move them out of jail. Quarterback Bart Houston converted a 3^rd-and-8 to 3^rd-and-12 with passes to running back Dare Ogunbowale for 34 and 18 yards, respectively. That set up a 1-yard plunge from fullback Alec Ingold to give Bucky the advantage. It was the first of five second quarter touchdowns.

On the first play following the Wisconsin touchdown, future NFL star TJ Watt knocked out the Boilermakers. Purdue quarterback David Blough rolled to his left and threw it and Watt picked it out of the air and strolled in for the 17-yard pick six.

Bradrick Shaw scored on a 7-yard touchdown on their next drive to make it 21-3. The biggest play of the drive came on a 2^nd-and-14 with a Houston pass to Robert Wheelwright for 20 yards to move to the 20. Three plays later, Shaw ran in to give Bucky the 18-point lead.

That touchdown was proceeded by another interception, which was batted at the line of scrimmage. Blough tried to bat down the ball like he was a cat batting at a ball of yarn, but he failed and it was intercepted by TJ Edwards. The Badgers wasted no time to cash in, as Houston found Ingold on the wheel route to give the Badgers a 28-3 lead on the first play following the pick.

Down 28-3, Purdue tried to play the role of the New England Patriots, as Blough found future Green Bay Packers draft pick DeAngelo Yancey for 75 yards to cut it to 28-10. But Wisconsin would not cooperate in the Boilers comeback attempt as Shaw scored another touchdown, blasting up the middle for 33 yards. On the score, the play was blocked beautifully and Shaw looked for someone to hit him at the second level, but no one was there. He rolled in untouched to give the Badgers the 25-point lead once again.

Purdue entered Badgers territory again, but Leo Musso picked off Blough at the end of the half and the Badgers held the 35-10 advantage at recess.

The home team had a chance to try to fight a bit back, as they recovered a muffed punt by Jazz Peavy at the Wisconsin 41. It led to a field goal to cut it to 35-13, but that wasn’t enough as the defense struggled to stop the high-powered Badgers offense.

Corey Clement rushed for 28 yards in the 62-yard drive to put the game away. Houston found Ogunbowale again on third down to move the sticks again. The Badgers faced two third downs on the drive. The pass to Ogunbowale was the first and the touchdown pass from Houston to Peavy was the second. Peavy atoned for his muffed punt by catching a 25-yard touchdown on a perfectly placed ball over the middle.

A running into the kicker penalty kept the next Wisconsin drive alive. The Badgers cashed in, converting two fourth downs and Clement finished the 15-play drive with a 6-yard touchdown. Purdue scored with four minutes left to finish off the scoring on a Bucky beat down.

The Badgers earned the Big Ten West crown when Nebraska was crushed at Iowa on Black Friday, but following a come-from-behind win at home against Minnesota, the Badgers blew a 28-7 lead to Penn State in Indianapolis. But Bucky rebounded to beat PJ Fleck and Western Michigan in the Cotton Bowl at Jerry World.