The Wisconsin Badgers beat the Purdue Boilermakers 38-17 on Friday night, starting off their Big Ten slate with a road victory, while improving to 3-1 on the season.
Starting off hot, the Badgers never trailed in the game, and comfortably led by two scores for a majority of the contest, speaking volumes about the performance of the team in Week 4.
As usual, there were a couple of standout players for the Badgers in the victory who contributed significantly to the victory.
Here are my three standout performances of the night for the Badgers against Purdue.
RB Braelon Allen
Once again, Braelon Allen and the Badgers had a great game rushing on Friday against the Boilermakers.
The Badgers' offense tallied a total of 209 yards rushing with four touchdowns on the ground, as Allen had 16 carries for 116 yards, accounting for two of those scores.
Purdue had no chance at stopping this Badger run offense, with Wisconsin gaining over 100 yards in the first half alone.
Allen was running all over the place, tossing around Purdue defenders at will in a dominant performance, despite dealing with some injury concerns stemming from last week’s practices.
The offensive line and key wide receiver blocks opened up big holes for Allen, and he took it from there.
It’s great to see Braelon Allen play well and look in good form early in the regular season, and, with more conference play coming up, the best is yet to come.
With fellow running back Chez Mellusi going down, seemingly for the season, a big question will revolve around how Allen’s workload is going to change and how Phil Longo can better involve the passing game to keep Braelon Allen fresh and ready to go.
CB Ricardo Hallman
Ricardo Hallman had a good game this week, coming up with two interceptions, both coming at crucial points in the game.
The first interception was a 50-50 ball that Hallman picked off to finish the half and the second was a great read by the cornerback, coming in and recording the interception to end a promising Purdue drive.
The second interception could not have come at a better time as it completely disrupted Purdue’s rhythm, and they didn't recover offensively following the crucial mistake from quarterback Hudson Card.
Head coach Luke Fickell preached the need for turnovers, and the Badgers racked up three defensively in Week 4 after a monstrous six-turnover performance against Georgia Southern, with Hallman accounting for two of those picks.
WR C.J. Williams
As the season has progressed, C.J. Williams has been getting more and more involved in the offense.
On Friday against the Boilermakers, Williams had 56 receiving yards off five catches, earning seven total targets on the game.
Williams paced the Badgers in catches and targets, and the breakout is slowly coming upon us.
Two of his catches came on crucial third downs. The first one was a tough catch between defenders on an early 3rd and 5 in Purdue territory that extended the drive, leading to a Tanner Mordecai touchdown run.
The second was a 15-yard completion on 3rd and 8 to send the Badgers into Purdue territory.
Williams, the transfer from USC, has slowly gotten used to Phil Longo’s offense and his pure skills as a wide receiver are on full display.
As the Badgers go deeper into conference play, it will be interesting to see how impactful Williams can become for the Badgers.
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