As the 2019 season brings to a close another decade of college football, Badgers Wire has been engaged in a series of reflective pieces. “Record Review” is another series examining how the Badgers have fared against the rest of the Big Ten this past decade. Next up is an examination of the Badgers’ record against one of their bigger divisional opponents, Purdue. This is another series Wisconsin has dominated recently. in fact, the Badgers managed to be perfect against the Boilermakers in the 2010s. Let’s take a look at the numbers.
Using Stassen, Badgers Wire pulled up every result against Purdue since the start of the decade. The Badgers are 10-0. They’re obviously perfect home and away. The margins for this contest are about as ugly as the overall record for Purdue. Wisconsin’s margin of victory heading into this year was 38-15 overall in the 2010s. They beat the Boilermakers by an average of 36-8 at home and 40-21 on the road. The Badgers brought the hammer on a regular basis to Purdue.
It is worth discussing, however briefly, the idea of a team getting too comfortable in a rivalry and letting off the gas pedal. Wisconsin has this rivalry going exactly the way it wants; the Badgers just need to keep that same hunger on a year-in, year-out basis. Losing these games can often make the path to a conference or division championship that much harder. One only needs to see how Wisconsin complicated its 2019 season with the loss to Illinois.
Wisconsin simply needs to keep its goals in focus when it comes to this Big Ten West matchup. Purdue’s Jeff Brohm is a good coach. He plays an exciting brand of football, but it can be hard to get things off the ground at a lower-tier program, even in light of the way Purdue looked after him when the Louisville job came open. He’s going to improve things in West Lafayette over time, but Wisconsin owns the talent and coaching to win this game every year if the Badgers remain focused and on task.