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    • The Purdue season could change if its 17-game losing streak against Wisconsin ends
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    The Purdue season could change if its 17-game losing streak against Wisconsin ends

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    • Saturday’s game: Purdue (1-3) vs. Wisconsin (2-2), noon, BTN
    • The Boilermakers haven’t beaten Wisconsin since 2003, a 17-game stretch.

    Purdue Football could leave Wisconsin with the win of a lifetime on Saturday.

    Not figuratively. These Badgers don’t have the charisma of those largely responsible for seventeen straight wins in this Big Ten rivalry. Since Ben Jones’ 18-yard field goal with three seconds left clinched a 26-23 victory on Oct. 18, 2003, the Boilermakers haven’t defeated Bucky.

    We mean the literal use of the word life. Linebacker Winston Berglund, born in 2005, is one of several Purdue players younger than the losing streak they face on Saturday.

    “I gotta get this thing rolling.” Purdue’s new offensive coordinator is urgently looking for solutions

    “My second year here, we’re in the meeting, and I’m probably one of the younger guys starting,” center Gus Hartwig said. “Coach (Jeff) Brohm says, ‘The last time we beat them, Gus was 1.’

    ‘There are boys who aren’t even born yet. (Dillon) Thieneman probably wasn’t even alive.”

    He’s right: the starting safety wasn’t born until August. However, he was alive before this near-generational losing streak began on October 16, 2004.

    Purdue travels to Wisconsin on Saturday, just a few weeks before the 20th anniversary of “The Fumble.” That play and its aftermath effectively closed the book on one of the richest chapters in the program’s history.

    Few Boilermaker teams visiting Camp Randall needed a win more than this one. With a three-game losing streak and even tougher opponents ahead, this team will look to do something it hasn’t done once this season: seize an opportunity.

    Purdue vs. Wisconsin: ‘The Fumble’

    Although the moment happened twenty years ago, it still vividly haunts many Boilermakers fans.

    As ESPN College GameDay made an unprecedented visit to Ross-Ade Stadium, No. 5 Purdue led No. 10 Wisconsin 17-7 with eight minutes to play. Complete that win and the Boilermakers are legit BCS contenders. Kyle Orton would take a huge step forward in the Heisman Trophy discussion.

    Still leading 17-14 with less than three minutes to play, Orton ran a bootleg down the right sideline on 3rd-and-3. Orton had the distance, but as he dove forward, linebacker Scott Starks hit him low and safety Robert Brooks hit him high.

    Orton somersaulted and the ball went wild. Starks picked it up and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown.

    Ben Jones couldn’t replicate his heroics, missing a 42-yard field goal with 28 seconds left. The 20-17 loss remains a clear dividing line in Purdue football history.

    • That team lost its next three games by a total of seven points. Instead of competing for the national championship, Purdue’s season finished outside the top 25 after a Sun Bowl loss to Arizona State.
    • The Boilermakers fell from No. 5 to No. 12 with that loss. While the 2005 team climbed as high as No. 11, no Purdue team has cracked the top 10 since the fumble. Since 2005, the program has spent a total of two weeks in the poll, none higher than number 23.
    • The past twenty years have had one nine-win season, two eight-win seasons and thirteen losing seasons. Barring a turnaround in the final two-thirds of the schedule, this could be the 10e season of four or fewer wins since the fumble.
    • That game was Purdue’s third GameDay appearance in two seasons. It has not appeared in that showcase since, not even as a visiting team. October 16, 2004 remains the college football institution’s only visit to West Lafayette.

    Less measurable – but equally tangible – is Purdue’s lack of an Orton-like presence at quarterback. Yes, Curtis Painter stepped in the next season and nearly overtook Drew Brees’ career marks. Yes, Brohm was fortunate to have Aidan O’Connell on his roster when none of his scholarship quarterbacks worked out.

    A program that proudly proclaims its quarterback history has too often been ordinary at best at the position.

    Which brings us right into the present. In laying out his reasons for firing Graham Harrell after four games, Walters specifically mentioned that quarterback Hudson Card “didn’t look like himself.” The performances the team saw in offseason and preseason camp — and in the opener against Indiana State — disappeared over the past three weeks.

    Walters brought in Jason Simmons — the head coach at Ben Davis High School just two years ago — to try to revitalize the offense. If successful, the formula will almost certainly also lead to a revitalization of Card.

    “It would be big, but at the same time I’m attacking Wisconsin like I do every week,” Card said. “They are just another opponent for us.”

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    Purdue offensive coordinator Jason Simmons

    Tell interim offensive coordinator Jason Simmons about how he got the news, his coaching background and what the offense needs to fix.

    Is this year that Purdue breaks Wisconsin’s losing streak?

    You don’t have to be a keen observer to feel frustration around the program. The Boilermakers know that if this offense only reflected last season’s mid-major production, they might be 3-1 right now.

    That may also have contributed to the sense of urgency Walters felt when he made an offensive coordinator change this week. This might be the most vulnerable Wisconsin team that Purdue has played in the two decades since its last win.

    Based only on data from games against FBS opponents, Wisconsin’s offensive resume looks nothing like that of the days of Jonathan Taylor, Ron Dayne or Russell Wilson. The Badgers are ranked 95the in points per game, 109e in yards per game, 115e in quarterback efficiency, 83rd in first downs, 79e in third-down percentage, 92i.e on red zone attempts and 110e on plays of more than 10 yards.

    Things went from bad to worse this week when running back Chaz Mellusi left the team to focus on his health. He ran for 149 yards and a touchdown against Purdue in 2021. After suffering a season-ending ankle injury against the Boilers last season, he hasn’t been the same.

    Even Wisconsin’s traditionally stout defense is allowing nearly 6 yards per play.

    A perfect opportunity for Purdue to strike, eh? The problem is that the Boilermakers rank lower than Wisconsin in each of the above categories. (One anomaly: With only four plays of more than 20 yards and two of more than 30 yards, the Badgers offense is even less explosive than Purdue’s).

    Wisconsin defeated a non-specialty MAC team, Western Michigan, 28-14. It defeated a nationally ranked FCS team, South Dakota, 27-13. Then it lost to Alabama at home and USC on the road by a combined 80-31.

    This game offers a unique combination of faith and opportunity. Purdue players insist their locker room remains positive. They remain convinced that they are better than the results show. It hurt to see Harrell go, but they’re banking on Walters’ effort to at least make the offense adequate again.

    Purdue can’t win seventeen games on Saturday. It also can’t win a game if last weekend’s awkward decision remains a distraction this weekend.

    At the same time, few Boilermaker teams have had to end this streak more than this one.

    “That would be great … to have the opportunity after 21 years to kind of change the narrative,” Hartwig said.

    It could also change the trajectory of the season and shine some light into a season that is getting a little darker every week.

    Follow IndyStar Purdue Insider Nathan Baird on X at @nwbaird.

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