First Look: Wisconsin
Here’s an early look at Purdue’s fifth opponent of the 2024 season, the Wisconsin Badgers.
Date/Time: Saturday, October 5, Noon E.T.
Location: Camp Randall Stadium
Surface: FieldTurf
Capacity: 76,057 (tickets)
Weather: Early forecast shows a high of 73 with mostly sunny skies
2024 schedules/records: Purdue 1-3 (0-1 Big Ten), Wisconsin 2-2 (0-1 Big Ten)
Series notes: Wisconsin leads the all-time series 53-29-8 thanks to a 17-game winning streak in the series. Purdue last defeated the Badgers 26-23 on a walk-off field goal in 2003. Since then, Purdue has lost every meeting with Wisconsin by an average margin of 19.88 points. Luke Fickell and Ryan Walters will meet for the second time, as each coach needs to spark improvement in year two. Fickell defeated Walters 38-17 on a Friday night in Ross-Ade Stadium a season ago.
TV: BTN
Early line: Wisconsin -10.5
STORYLINES TO WATCH
The drought
The series notes above tell the story. Throughout the losing streak, most of Purdue’s losses came in a non-competitive fashion. The pain of the 2004 loss never left the fan base. The triple-overtime loss in 2018 should have ended the streak, but Jonathan Taylor had other ideas. Excluding the new west coast members, there’s only one Big Ten program that Purdue hasn’t defeated since the last time it took down Wisconsin. That program? Rutgers.
Road woes
The road has yet to be kind to Walters. Under his guidance, the Boilermakers hold a 1-5 record away from West Lafayette, losing five in a row after taking down Virginia Tech last season. Wisconsin looks far from unbeatable, playing a backup quarterback and fresh off a comfortable defeat at USC. What will Saturday bring?
Second year coaches
Fickell and Walters began their tenures at Wisconsin and Purdue just days apart, and both entered year two hoping for a breakthrough. Wisconsin sputtered to a 7-6 record in Fickell’s debut season, losing to Indiana and Northwestern in the process. The Badgers swung for the fences when they fired Paul Chryst, and time will tell if the aggressive move will pay off.
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Of course, Sunday night’s parting of the ways with Boilermaker offensive coordinator Graham Harrell will also be a storyline as the Purdue offense looks for any spark moving forward.
Ryan Walters on the Badgers
“We are aware that it has been a long time since Purdue has won against Wisconsin. As Wisconsin usually is, they are big and physical upfront and may be more balanced than they have been in while.
They are very strategic and a very capable program.”
