Wisconsin Beats Purdue 24-3
October 21, 2006 | Football
October 21, 2006
West Lafayette, Ind. -- The Wisconsin football team improved to 7-1 this season and 4-1 in the Big Ten with a 24-3 win over Purdue (5-3, 2-2 Big Ten) Saturday at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Ind. Freshman running back P.J. Hill scored two touchdowns and the Badger defense held Purdue''s high-powered offense to 286 yards.
Hill had another solid day on the ground, rushing for 161 yards on 29 carries. Quarterback John Stocco finished with 201 yards in the air, completing 13 of his 21 passes. Paul Hubbard and tight end Travis Beckum also had an excellent afternoon. Hubbard had four receptions for 80 yards while Beckum also caught four passes for 68 yards.
Purdue got on the board first with a 47-yard field goal by Chris Summers. That capped an eight-play, 50-yard drive. The big play on the drive was a 22-yard pass from Curtis Painter to Greg Orton on a third-and-6 from the Purdue 24-yard line.
After the teams traded punts, Wisconsin got the ball on its own 11-yard line. It took 11 plays for the Badgers to drive 89 yards and take their first lead of the game. Stocco was 3-of-3 on the drive for 63 yards and running back P.J. Hill capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown run, his 13th of the season.
Purdue went three-and-out on its next drive and UW took over on its own 42-yard line. The Badgers'' drive stalled at the Purdue 35, however, when Stocco was intercepted by Ryan Baker. Baker returned the interception to the 50-yard line, giving the Boilermakers their best field position of the game.
The Boilermakers drove to the UW 23-yard line but elected to go for it on fourth-and-11 instead of trying a 40-yard field goal. Painter's pass to Orton was incomplete, giving the ball back to Wisconsin with 2:03 left in the first half.
The Badgers quickly drove to the Purdue 31-yard line on two pass completions. The drive stalled and Taylor Mehlhaff nailed a career-long 51-yard field goal to give Wisconsin a 10-3 lead. UW drove to the Purdue 18-yard line on the final drive of the first half but was unable to stop the clock on its final play of the half.
The Boilermakers set up a 37-yard field goal attempt by Summers to start the second half. The attempt sailed wide left, though, giving UW the ball on its own 20-yard line. From there, Wisconsin covered 80 yards in 12 plays, capped by Hill''s second touchdown of the game, a three-yard run. The big play on the drive was a 25-yard completion from Stocco to Paul Hubbard on third-and-7 from the Purdue 47. Stocco also had three rushes for 29 yards on the drive.
After Purdue turned the ball over on downs, Wisconsin took over for its own 15-yard line with just over 12 minutes to play. A 46-yard run by Hill highlighted the drive, as Hill took the ball all the way down to the Purdue eight-yard line. On the next play, freshman Lance Smith scored his third touchdown of the season to extend the Badger lead. The PAT by Mehlhaff gave Wisconsin a 24-3 advantage.
Purdue got the ball back and a fourth-and-4 situation led to an interception by Wisconsin''s Jonathon Casillas on the Badger 26-yard line. UW was able to run out the clock, thanks to a 22-yard run by Dywon Rowan on third-and-2.
Wisconsin returns home to Camp Randall for an 11 a.m. game against Illinois next Saturday. The Badger-Fighting Illini game will be televised live by ESPN2.
Wisconsin vs. Purdue Game Notes
'Wisconsin''s game captains were QB John Stocco, OL Joe Thomas, LB Mark Zalewski and DB Joe Stellmacher.
'Purdue won the toss and elected to defer. Wisconsin chose to receive and defended the south goal.
'Today''s attendance was 58,111.
TEAM NOTES
'This marks the 15th time in Wisconsin history and third consecutive season in which the Badgers have won at least seven of their first eight games.
'With today''s victory, head coach Bret Bielema tied the UW record for wins by a first-year head coach. Phil King led UW to a 7-1-1 record in 1896 and William Juneau''s 1912 Badgers went 7-0-0.
'The Wisconsin defense, which ranks ninth in the country in scoring defense, allowed just three points today. The Badgers have allowed just eight touchdowns this season.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
'P.J. Hill has scored at least one touchdown in every game this season (eight straight). Entering today, the only players with touchdown streaks longer than his were Ohio State's Antonio Pittman (12) and Jarrett Dillard of Rice (9).
'Today marked Hill's fourth multiple-TD game of the season. He has 14 touchdowns this year.
'Hill rushed for 161 yards, his seventh 100-yard rushing performance of the season. Last week Hill became just the fourth freshman in NCAA history to reach the 1,000-yard plateau in just seven games. The others are Emmitt Smith of Florida (1,011 yards in 1987), Marshall Faulk of San Diego State (1,157 yards in 1991) and Adrian Peterson of Oklahoma (1,023 yards in 2004). Hill entered today''s game with 1,011 yards.
'Wisconsin is now 26-7 in games started by quarterback John Stocco.
'Taylor Mehlhaff''s 51-yard field goal in the second quarter was his career long. That ties for the fifth-longest field goal in school history. It was the Badgers' ' longest field goal since Vitaly Pisetsky hit a 53-yarder vs. Ball State on Sept. 11, 1999. Mehlhaff had been 0-for-6 in his career on field goals of 47 or more yards.
'Sophomore linebacker Jonathon Casillas recorded his career first interception in the fourth quarter.
