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3 takeaways from Wisconsin’s first B1G win of the season over Purdue

Ethan Stone

By Ethan Stone

Published:

Wisconsin picked up its first B1G win of the season on Saturday, demolishing Purdue 52-6 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison.

This Badgers team does not quite look like it did at the start of the season, and there were questions about whether the losses of Tyler Van Dyke and Chez Mellusi – especially the latter – would affect Saturday’s game. Well, we got our answer.

Wisconsin now sits at 3-2 on the season and looks ahead to next weekend against a pesky Rutgers squad. To hold you over, here are 3 takeaways from Wisconsin’s dominant win over the Boilermakers.

Wisconsin won the 3rd down battle, dominated on defense

Wisconsin won the 3rd down battle on Saturday while Purdue struggled heavily in that department. The Badgers finished 7/13 on third down while the Boilermakers completed just 1 3rd down all afternoon. They finished a dreadful 1-11 in these crucial moments.

Purdue’s offense wasn’t really able to do anything against a vaunted Wisconsin defense. The Badgers allowed just 216 total yards and 2 field goals. Hudson Card and Devin Mockobee, who have had good years so far, were entirely inconsequential; Card completed 11 of his 21 ing attempts for 111 yards while Mockobee rushed for only 45 yards on 11 carries.

Purdue totaled just 3 plays over 20 yards all afternoon.

Tawee Walker picked up right where Chez Mellusi left off

Chez Mellusi announced this past week that he is stepping away from the Badgers program to focus on his health, a very understandable move for someone with his injury history.

But it seems the Badgers will be okay in the rushing department after Saturday’s performance by Tawee Walker. The Bishop Gorman product was a force all afternoon, torching Purdue for 94 yards and 3 trips to the end zone.

His final touchdown run was his best. He shed a few Boilermaker tacklers like they were high schoolers here.

Even when Walker wasn’t on the field the Badgers found success on the ground. Cade Yacamelli scored the Badgers’ longest TD of the year on the below play. He finished Saturday’s game with a strong 39 yards and 1 touchdown.

Braedyn Locke was a rollercoaster throughout

This was a very strange game for Braedyn Locke.

To be blunt, he was terrible to start the game. Locke threw 2 interceptions and was well under 50% ing for most of the first half. However, slowly but surely, he found his groove as the game progressed.

Locke’s 2nd half was indistinguishable from his first half. He completed 12 of his 14 ing attempts for 232 yards and 2 touchdowns after finishing 8-17 for 127 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions in the first half.

Purdue’s secondary is terrible, so it’s hard to draw any conclusions from his performance. But it’s a good sign that Locke was able to overcome such a horrendous start.

Here’s one of his better throws from the evening, a dart to Trech Kekahuna for a touchdown:

Ethan Stone
Ethan Stone

Ethan Stone was an editor for his student newspaper at the University of Tennessee and is now a News Manager for Saturday Tradition.