MADISON - The Wisconsin Badgers played their fifth game of the 2024 season and second conference game on Saturday morning in Camp Randall, blowing the doors off of the Purdue Boilermakers for a 52-6 victory.

Here are my three biggest takeaways from Wisconsin’s win.

Entering Saturday, it feels safe to say that quarterback Braedyn Locke’s reputation was at an all-time low.

In the two games he’d played this season, you could count his impressive plays on one hand. The offense’s comatose second half against USC burned any remaining goodwill for the backup. He was at exactly 50% passing between last season and now, which is simultaneously impressive and a perfect symbol of his mediocrity.

Fans were about ready to see freshman Mabrey Mettauer.

Even against a run defense as poor as Purdue’s, they could’ve easily minimized Locke’s role and only let him hand the ball off all day. But they didn’t. Even after building a lead, they allowed him to continue to take chances and develop some much-needed rhythm.

And despite his impressive final statline (20-for-31, 359 passing yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions), the game didn’t start out easily.

After he threw his second interception of the day midway through the second quarter, it looked like we were getting a continuation of his performances against Alabama and USC.

But, for whatever reason, that turnover flipped a switch, and preceded some of the best football he’s played as a Badger. Locke completed 13 of his next 14 pass attempts for 258 passing yards and two touchdowns.

“I don’t know that I saw a different demeanor [after the second interception]. I didn’t see a different body language. I didn’t see a different attitude. And that’s not always the case,” coach Luke Fickell said of Locke after the game.

“To me, what makes this that much better was that there was adversity. There were situations where we had to step up. It didn’t just go super smooth the entire time. And sometimes that’s even better.”

After the second turnover, the Badgers were up 14-3 and could have retreated into their shell the way we’ve seen plenty of times over the past two seasons. But instead, they reached out farther than they ever have and kept their foot on the gas pedal until a win was absolutely guaranteed.

In the first two games of the season, against inferior opponents, Wisconsin’s offense looked as if they were doing the absolute bare minimum in order to win. They lacked creativity and aggression. But last weekend’s loss against USC seemed to change something.

“We want to be aggressive and push the ball down the field. We saw last week what can happen when we let off the gas. So our mentality was to continue to go until the clock said zero-zero-zero,” Locke said after the game.

On paper, throwing it deep as often as they did, with a multiple-score lead, isn’t a very wise strategy.

It would’ve been “smarter” to not give Purdue any more chances for turnovers. But offensive coordinator Phil Longo seemed to know that his offense needed to develop some rhythm. They needed some sort of jump start.

Ultimately, the Badgers won’t play a defense as poor as Purdue’s for the rest of the year. It’s only gonna get tougher from here. But Locke and the offense developed some much-need confidence.

After three crucial Badger receivers all suffered injuries in the first half (Will Pauling, Bryson Green and Tyrell Henry), it looked as if an already-struggling room was going to have an even tougher time producing.

The receivers were struggling to create separation, as nearly every catch became unnecessarily laborious. They were making Purdue’s mediocre secondary look like the Legion of Boom at times.

But as players were going down left-and-right and the offense seemed to be tightening up, backup slot receiver Trech Kekahuna ascended from the ashes and played the best game of his young career.

Kekahuna didn’t get many real looks until Pauling went down. But after that, it didn’t take long for Locke to realize that the redshirt freshman was the only receiver consistently creating separation.

After a few warmup plays in the second quarter, catching three balls for 33 yards, he dominated the third quarter with three receptions for 101 yards and two touchdowns.

“We’re trying to do a better job, even this week, of saying, ‘Okay, how are we gonna give guys more opportunities to see if they can get hot in some of those situations.’ His was a unique one, too. We weren’t playing him a lot, we had some things building. But also, when Will went down, that gave him more opportunities,” Fickell said of Kekahuna after the game.

After an impressive offseason, the early season returns weren’t matching his obvious potential. He entered with just four receptions for 40 yards on the season, including two consecutive goose eggs against Alabama and USC.

But when the players ahead of him went down and the offense needed playmakers, Kekahuna was ready. This performance will no-doubt stick in Longo’s head when game planning for the remainder of the season.

“That guy is one of the biggest competitors on our team. He doesn’t bat an eye at anything, whether it’s on the field, off the field, in the weight room. It doesn’t matter. The guy has a will to win unlike anybody. So I believe, when the ball’s in the air, he’s gonna do everything he can to go and get it. And that was a great example of it,” Locke said of Kekahuna.

This game will be remembered for Wisconsin’s dynamic offense and the 50-burger, but all of that came after and during some egregious decision-making from Purdue.

The Boilermakers’ new play-caller, Jason Simmons, was an analyst prior to this week. And you could tell.

He had no interest in exploiting the Badgers’ greatest weakness, the defensive line, and instead took a majority of runs outside the tackles and into open space, allowing Wisconsin’s linebackers and safeties to tackle them instead.

Their few sizable gains mostly came in the passing game, when Purdue quarterback Hudson Card was able to run around and capitalize on Wisconsin’s lack of pass rush.

Even when the Boilermakers’ defense was able to make plays and put them in scoring position, they didn’t seem eager to capitalize on those opportunities.

Locke’s two first half interceptions came on successive drives, after they had already gained a two-score lead. Purdue drove down from about midfield on both occasions, but when they reached the goal line, they kicked from inside the 5-yard-line. Both times.

Instead of running it up the middle against the Badgers’ thin defensive line, they played it safe, even when they needed to be aggressive. And they never got that close to scoring again.

They also committed twice as many penalties as Wisconsin (6-55 vs. 3-30) and lost two fumbles, to add insult to injury.

This was a great benchmark win to inspire confidence, but the Badgers will need to improve as their competition improves.

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