Late Field Goal Lifts Purdue Past Badgers 26-23
October 18, 2003 | Football
Ben Jones' 18-yard field goal with three seconds remaining in the game helped lift No. 15 Purdue to a 26-23 win over 12th-ranked Wisconsin Saturday afternoon at Camp Randall Stadium. With the victory, Purdue moved into sole possession of first place in the Big Ten.
Kyle Orton completed 38-of-55 passes for 411 yards and a touchdown for the Boilermakers, who ran 93 plays from scrimmage compared to 52 for the Badgers. Taylor Stubblefield caught 16 passes for 130 yards, while John Standeford had 14 receptions for 184 yards.
Trailing 23-17 late in the fourth quarter, UW's Jim Leonhard returned a Purdue punt 63 yards for a touchdown. Mike Allen's extra point tied the score with just 2:55 remaining.
But Purdue (6-1, 3-0 Big Ten) had the answer, driving 82 yards in 11 plays to set up the game-winning field goal. Orton's 36-yard pass to Ray Williams down to the Wisconsin three-yard line put the Boilers in position for the score.
Purdue held in a 477-293 advantage in yards from scrimmage. Anthony Davis returned from an ankle injury to rush for 96 yards on 18 carries and one touchdown.
The Boilermakers jumped out to an early 14-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to a two-yard touchdown run by Jerod Void and a six-yard TD pass from Orton to Stubblefield.
Wisconsin (6-2, 3-1) answered the scores as Davis broke off a 28-yard touchdown run with 3:14 remaining in the opening quarter and then got a 55-yard fumble recovery that was returned for a touchdown by Jeff Mack early in the second period. However, Allen's point-after attempt was wide of the mark following Mack 's score, leaving Purdue with a 14-13 lead.
Jones hit on a 42-yard field goal with 4:11 to go in the second quarter to help give Purdue a 17-13 lead heading into halftime.
Jones' second of four field goals on the afternoon, this time from 20 yards, capped an 18-play, 71-yard drive on the opening drive of the third quarter to stake the Boilermakers to a 20-13 advantage.
UW quarterback Jim Sorgi was knocked out of the game on the following series and was replaced by Matt Schabert for the remainder of the contest. Early in the fourth quarter, Schabert hooked up with fullback Matt Bernstein for a 28-yard completion on 3rd-and-3 to give the Badgers a first down at the Purdue 11. Wisconsin would eventually settle for a 25-yard field goal by Allen, cutting Purdue's lead to 20-16.
Stubblefield hauled in a 50-yard catch from Orton on the first play of the next series and Boilermakers would push their lead back up to seven six plays later on a 26-yard Jones field goal.
The Badgers would eventually tie the score on Leonhard's second punt return for a touchdown this season, but Purdue virtually ran the clock out before getting Jones' game-winner.
Sorgi completed 6-of-9 passes for 118 yards before leaving with the injury. Schabert was 5-of-9 passing for 78 yards. Lee Evans had three receptions for 76 yards. Defensively, Alex Lewis recorded five sacks for a loss of 39 yards and a forced fumble. He also set a school record with 6.5 TFLs.
Wisconsin returns to action at 11 a.m. next Saturday when it travels to Evanston, Ill., to take on Northwestern.
Notes: The last four Wisconsin-Purdue games have been decided by a total of 23 points (5.8 average points per game)...Jeff Mack's 55-yard fumble return for a TD was the first for a Badger since Joey Boese returned a fumble 26 yards for a TD against Indiana in Madison on Oct. 6, 2001. Prior to today, Mack had never recovered a fumble or intercepted a pass during his four-year career...Jim Leonhard's 63-yard punt return for a TD in the fourth quarter was his third career punt return for a TD and his second this season (65-yarder at Penn State on Oct. 4). He becomes just the fourth player in school history to return three punts for TDs (Ira Matthews had four from 1975-78; Troy Vincent had three from 1988-91; and Nick Davis had three from 1998-01). Leonhard also joins Earl Girard (1947) and Nick Davis (1998) as the only players in school history to return two punts for TDs in a season...Jim Leonhard now has 763 career punt return yards, third-most in school history...LB Alex Lewis recorded a career-high five QB sacks today for a school-record 39 yards in losses. He became just the fifth player in school history to notch five sacks and the first to do so since Wendell Bryant had five at Penn State on Sept. 22, 2001. Lewis' 6.5 TFLs today also is a school record. His 42 yards in TFLs were the second-most in school history in a game (the record is 43 by Darryl Sims vs. Northwestern in 1982).
Wisconsin vs. Purdue Postgame Quotes; Oct. 18, 2003
Wisconsin Head Coach Barry Alvarez
Opening Statement:
"Well I thought that was a good college football game out there today. Two teams fought extremely hard and competed very hard. We came up a little short in the end. I thought Purdue did an excellent job. They made plays down the stretch. I really felt our kids really competed particularly getting down 14 points and battling back and Jimmy (Leonhard) giving us a chance with the punt return. Our special teams really did an excellent job against a team that has kind of hung their hat on special teams this year. I really thought did a nice job on special teams. I thought our defense did a good job after the first two possessions after falling behind and making some adjustments, yet we gave up some plays. The big play at then end there was huge. The kid makes a good throw and a great catch. That was the football game. That's what it game down to, but we did a lot of good things, we just didn't do enough good things to come out on top."
Were you expecting Purdue to pass as much as they did '
"Well, I kind of had a sense. I just thought they'd line up and try to do what they did to a couple of teams earlier this year. They saw that we 're pretty good against the run and this kid is a good thrower. I anticipated it. I didn't know we'd get that many, but I anticipated that'd be the type of attack that they would try."
What did you figure out after that first quarter '
"Just some leverages and' you work on it, but you know we 've got some young guys in there and I don't think they are quite ready for it every snap and that type of thing, but just in leverages and getting the right people in the game and getting where we needed to be."
Purdue Head Coach Joe Tiller
Opening Statement:
"Well, it was a nice, hard-fought, Big Ten football game and either team could have won it and we are fortunate that we ended up with enough points at the end of the day to get out of here with a W. We consider ourselves very fortunate."
Could you talk about that pump pass to (Ray) Williams '
"Yeah. Actually, we felt like the way they were setting on all of our underneath stuff, particularly, late when we felt like they thought we were going to try to peck away, which actually, it was a good plan. And actually, their adjustment in the second half was designed to take away the underneath throws. But I think that's why (John) Standeford scored and that's why I think (Ray) Williams made the big catch."
Joe, you guys have been pretty balanced, the last year and a half, two years, certainly going into this game. What did you see to make you feel you could go back to the Drew Brees era and start throwing it around a lot '
"I think it's'as a coach, I feel it's extremely valuable to be predictable in your unpredictability and I think when a team really draws a bead on you and feel like, `Hey, this is the direction your team is going. ' If you have the ability to reverse course, you've got a chance to make some hay. We got on the plan early in the week and we stayed on the plan, we were throwing the ball all over the place on Tuesday. So we came in here believing we could throw the football. Other people have tried to throw it against them, but not with quite the same passing attack as ours. So we felt like what we were doing had a chance. So, given our druthers, certainly in the second half when they started going to drop eight, I sure wish we would have run it a little bit more."
Wisconsin Players
Quarterback Matt Schabert
On the game:
"We were fighting the whole game. It was a great ball game all around and those guys really played well. We came up short in the end. The only thing we can do now is take a look at the film, realize that the game is behind us and starting working for Northwestern."
On the Purdue defense:
"They have some really athletic defensive ends and everybody runs well. They are playing in the Big Ten so obviously they are hard-nosed. Their guys flew around to the ball and they just ended up making one more play than we did."
On the loss:
"It is tough setback. Purdue is a great team and I think a lot of people don't realize how good they are. They are going to make some waves in the Big Ten. They are a really strong, physical and all-around athletic team."
On the early turnovers and the Badger defense:
"I think obviously that is one thing we always preach is protecting the ball. In the early on we didn't. We turned it over two times right away and they went down and scored some quick points. You have to give credit to our defense. They made some great plays and held (Purdue) to field goals several times and made a lot of defensive stands on the goal line. That is the kind of team this is. If someone is not playing real well, someone else picks up the slack."
Cornerback Scott Starks
On Purdue's receivers:
"That is a real good one-two punch they have. (Taylor) Stubblefield is a quick player and (John) Standeford is a bigger guy. (Purdue) has a good one-two punch."
On the game:
"It hurts. It is a tough defeat, but we have to respond to adversity during the season."
On Purdue quarterback Kyle Orton:
"He is a real good quarterback. He is good on his feet also when he has to scramble. He is also puts the ball right where it needs to be and he made the right checks. He is going to be a great quarterback."
