MADISON -- Jim Leonhard knew the Camp Randall crowd wasn’t going to automatically welcome back the team with open arms against Purdue.

After all, the Badgers were below .500 coming into the contest and had been thumped, 34-10, against Illinois last time out at home on Oct. 1.

“Our guys have to understand the feeling in the stadium this week,” Leonhard told reporters the Thursday leading into the game. “I think there are going to be some fans that are a little skeptical and we’ve played inconsistent enough that we have to show who we’re going to be.

"I think the players have to understand we have to go and create that excitement. We have to have great energy and great execution early in the game."

How did the Badgers do in pumping some juice into the stadium early?

Well, Graham Mertz and the offense scored in two minutes, and the defense followed that up with a pick six. Two drives later, the offense tacked on another score to make it 21-0 in the first quarter. How’s that for energy early in the game?

“Coach Leonhard told us,” inside linebacker Jake Chaney said. “It’s either going to be us playing against 150 or us playing against 80,000, so we had to get to a fast start because we knew our fans weren’t going to come into the game booing us or having disappointment in us. We knew if we can get off to a fast start then we can have them on our side the whole game, and that’s what we did and we kept it and the fans were great.”

The 150 Leonhard was referring to was the traveling party that Purdue came with. The 80,000 was, of course, in reference to the Camp Randall crowd, which included a number of alumni and former players returning for homecoming.

That familiar crowd rose to its feet at the end of the first quarter and at the end of the first half, greeting Wisconsin’s play with a pair of rousing ovations.

Wisconsin suffered a pair of losses at home - each in its own brutal manner. The first came with UW three points short and the other a 24-point loss to former head coach Bret Bielema, who heads Big Ten West foe Illinois.

The Badgers have dominated the series in recent history and controlled the Big Ten West since divisions were formed. The defeat at home provided an eerie image of what the program had become.

“He talked about that one of the times he was talking to the team,” senior John Torchio said. “You think we’re going to be walking into a stadium that’s going to be rocking, super excited to see you? No, they’re going to be sitting there, arms crossed saying alright, let’s see who I came to watch today."

It has been just a three-game sample since the switch from Paul Chryst to Leonhard, but the early signs are promising. The effort hasn't been in question and UW very well could be - maybe should be - 3-0 during the stretch.

In their return home, the Badgers delivered a product that has fans optimistic for the future of the program.

"Not that people are against us, but it felt good to prove that we are good enough. This is what we can do," Torchio said.

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