First Look: Wisconsin

Here’s an early look at Purdue’s fifth opponent of the 2024 season, the Wisconsin Badgers.

Date/Time: Saturday, October 5, Noon E.T.

Surface: FieldTurf

Capacity: 76,057 (tickets)

Weather: Early forecast shows a high of 73 with mostly sunny skies

2024 schedules/records: Purdue 1-3 (0-1 Big Ten), Wisconsin 2-2 (0-1 Big Ten)

Series notes: Wisconsin leads the all-time series 53-29-8 thanks to a 17-game winning streak in the series. Purdue last defeated the Badgers 26-23 on a walk-off field goal in 2003. Since then, Purdue has lost every meeting with Wisconsin by an average margin of 19.88 points. Luke Fickell and Ryan Walters will meet for the second time, as each coach needs to spark improvement in year two. Fickell defeated Walters 38-17 on a Friday night in Ross-Ade Stadium a season ago.

TV: BTN

Early line: Wisconsin -10.5

STORYLINES TO WATCH

The drought

The series notes above tell the story. Throughout the losing streak, most of Purdue’s losses came in a non-competitive fashion. The pain of the 2004 loss never left the fan base. The triple-overtime loss in 2018 should have ended the streak, but Jonathan Taylor had other ideas. Excluding the new west coast members, there’s only one Big Ten program that Purdue hasn’t defeated since the last time it took down Wisconsin. That program? Rutgers.

Road woes

The road has yet to be kind to Walters. Under his guidance, the Boilermakers hold a 1-5 record away from West Lafayette, losing five in a row after taking down Virginia Tech last season. Wisconsin looks far from unbeatable, playing a backup quarterback and fresh off a comfortable defeat at USC. What will Saturday bring?

Second year coaches

Fickell and Walters began their tenures at Wisconsin and Purdue just days apart, and both entered year two hoping for a breakthrough. Wisconsin sputtered to a 7-6 record in Fickell’s debut season, losing to Indiana and Northwestern in the process. The Badgers swung for the fences when they fired Paul Chryst, and time will tell if the aggressive move will pay off.

Ryan Walters on the Badgers

Comments will be added following Walters’ Monday afternoon press conference

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