Badgers' 35-point second quarter powers blowout win over Purdue

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Wisconsin wasn't supposed to be one of the Big Ten contenders on upset alert this weekend, but after a quarter and a half Saturday in West Lafayette, Purdue owned a 3-0 lead.

But while Twitter lit up with talk of a potentially season-ruining upset, the Badgers made all that conversation instant ancient history, rattling off seven touchdowns the rest of the afternoon — including five in the second quarter alone — and winning in blowout fashion, 49-20, over the Boilermakers.

Yes, Wisconsin got off to a slow start, punting on its first two possessions and allowing a Purdue field goal to stand for a 3-0 lead for a significant chunk of time.

But the second quarter was all Badgers. First came a 10-play, 87-yard touchdown drive that ended in a one-yard scoring carry for Alec Ingold that gave Wisconsin the lead. Then the flood gates opened. On the next play from scrimmage, T.J. Watt — the brother of former Badgers star J.J. Watt and the guy who could be the conference's Defensive Player of the Year — made a sensational interception of Purdue quarterback David Blough, jumping and grabbing his pass out of the air from just a few feet away, then returning it 17 yards for a touchdown.

The Boilermakers followed with a three and out, and eight plays after the punt, the Badgers were back in the end zone on a Bradrick Shaw touchdown run, making it 21-3. The very next play from scrimmage was another Blough interception, this one ending up in the hands of T.J. Edwards, and the very next play after that was a 19-yard touchdown pass from Bart Houston to Ingold for a score that made it 28-3. The very next play from scrimmage was a 75-yard touchdown pass from Blough to DeAngelo Yancey, getting Purdue some of those points back. But five plays after that, Shaw ripped off a 33-yard touchdown rush for another Wisconsin score, making it 35-10. Blough even was intercepted one more time, by Leo Musso, before the end of the first half.

The eventful second quarter put the game on ice, but the scoring wasn't done. Purdue turned a Jazz Peavy fumbled punt into a field goal, but Peavy made amends on the ensuing drive, when Alex Hornibrook found him for a 25-yard touchdown. Corey Clement added a six-yard touchdown rush in the fourth quarter, and Blough and Yancey also hooked up again for another score, this one from 10 yards out.

When it was all over, Wisconsin had 412 total yards, 221 of them coming on the ground. Clement carried the ball 27 times for 112 yards and his one touchdown. Shaw added 68 yards and a pair of touchdown rushes. Houston and Hornibrook combined to complete 12 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns.

Blough threw the three picks but also had the two touchdown tosses, with his 206 passing yards making up a good chunk of Purdue's 293-yard total.

The win boosted the Badgers to 9-2 on the season and 6-2 in Big Ten play. A Nebraska win Saturday meant Wisconsin will have to wait a week to be able to clinch the Big Ten West Division title, which it can do with a win over Minnesota in the battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe.

The Boilers dropped to 3-8 overall and 1-7 in the conference with the loss. Purdue wraps up its season next weekend against Indiana.

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