Wisconsin blasts Purdue as Badgers pick up much-needed win for momentum, Boilermakers' misery continues

Wisconsin and Purdue are two Big Ten teams headed into completely opposite directions in the heart of conference play

Wisconsin smothered Purdue 52-6 at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday in a battle of second-year coaching staffs both in desperate need of a win this weekend.

The Badgers came into the weekend with a 2-2 record after suffering a blowout loss to Alabama two weeks ago -- a game which cost them starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke for the rest of the season -- before blowing a second-half lead at USC last week to lose by 17.

The vibes were not high, and a loss to a Purdue team that's been so abysmal to start the season that it fired its offensive coordinator after only four games wouldn't have helped matters much. Instead, the Badgers picked up a much-needed win to begin a stretch of what should be winnable games if this program wants to get to a bowl game in its second season under Luke Fickell.

Making the win even better is the manner in which the Badgers went about the victory. Wisconsin's offense entered the weekend ranked dead last nationally in explosive play rate at 6.3%. That number improved considerably as Wisconsin threw two long touchdown passes, one for 52 yards to Vinny Anthony and another for 69 yards to Trech Kekahuna. Those two passes matched Wisconsin's season-long total for passes over 50 yards. And they weren't the only big plays the Badgers had.

Wisconsin completed five passes for at least 20 yards and had three rushes of over 15 yards, including gains of 30 and 47 yards.

Braedyn Locke finished with 359 yards passing and three touchdowns, with Trech Kekahuna (six catches for 134 yards and two touchdowns) as his favorite target. The Badgers got it done on the ground, too; Tawee Walker rushed for 94 yards and three touchdowns of his own. In the end, the Badgers finished with 589 yards of offense and averaged 8.1 yards per play, though it wasn't a perfect afternoon. Locke did throw two interceptions.

Still, this was an extremely important result for offensive coordinator Phil Longo. I speculated earlier this week that Purdue's Graham Harrell was the first offensive coordinator to lose his job in the Big Ten, but he was hardly the only one feeling the heat. For Longo's offense to create so many big plays with a backup quarterback gives this offense some hope for the rest of the season.

As for the staff on the other sideline, Harrell's dismissal may not be the only shakeup in West Lafayette, Indiana. After winning their season-opener against Indiana State 49-0, the Boilermakers have been outscored 184-44 in four games against FBS opponents. They've only managed to score more than 10 points in one of those games (a 38-21 loss at Oregon State) and have allowed at least 28 in all of them. This is a team that lost its best players on offense and defense (WR Deion Burks and DE Nic Scourton) to the transfer portal during the offseason and announced earlier this week that starting cornerback Markevious Brown was stepping away for the rest of the season.

Five of Purdue's final seven games are against teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25. It's already been a long season, and odds are it will only get longer.