[media-credit name=’Derek Montgomery’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — After a dramatic fourth-quarter comeback, the Badgers (7-0, 4-0) earned a 20-17 victory over Purdue (5-1, 2-1) in West Lafayette, Ind., Saturday.

"I've been in this racket a long time and I don't know if I've ever been in a game like that," head coach Barry Alvarez said.

Trailing 17-7 with eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Wisconsin staged a seven-play, 73-yard scoring drive. With star tailback Anthony Davis watching from the sidelines, quarterback John Stocco completed six of seven passes for 73 yards on the drive. After connecting with wide out Brandon Williams four times to move inside the red zone, Stocco found tailback Booker Stanley for a seven-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 17-14 with 5:29 to play.

Then the real drama began. After running the clock down to under three minutes, Purdue quarterback Kyle Orton took off on third down and was tackled by cornerback Scott Starks and safety Robert Brooks. Brooks' hit knocked the ball loose, and Starks recovered the fumble and sprinted 40 yards into the end zone to put the Badgers ahead 20-17 with 2:36 remaining.

"It was God speaking to me, saying 'This is your opportunity. I set you up with this opportunity, now pick it up and take it in,'" Starks said.

However, the game was not over yet. Mike Allen's extra-point attempt was blocked by Purdue's Bernard Pollard, leaving Purdue trailing by just three points.

"I was sick in my stomach after having the extra point blocked," Alvarez said.

Orton led a 16-play, 62-yard drive to move into field-goal range on the Wisconsin 25-yard line. With 24 seconds on the clock, Purdue's Ben Jones missed a 42-yard field goal wide right to give the Badgers a dramatic victory.

"He's a great kicker but a situation like that will do something like that to you," UW place kicker Mike Allen said of Jones' miss. "I don't know if the wind played into it or what played into it. I'm just glad he missed it."

The miss was just the second of the year from fewer than 50 yards for Jones, who had converted seven of nine attempts coming into Saturday's game.

"I always stand right where they have to get to kick the field goal, where I think his range is, and he was beyond me," Alvarez said.

With the win, Wisconsin moves into sole possession of first place in the Big Ten, becoming the only remaining undefeated team in the conference. The last time Wisconsin started 7-0 was in 1998, when the Badgers won their first of two consecutive Rose Bowl titles.

The victory propelled the Badgers to a No. 6 national ranking in the current Associated Press poll, an improvement of four spots over last week's ranking. The Boilermakers, who entered the game ranked No. 5 in the nation, fell seven spots to No. 12.

"This was a big win," linebacker Dontez Sanders said. "We came in against the No. 5-ranked team at homecoming. No one said we had a chance to win, and we came out there and found a way to win."

Though the game was ultimately decided by fourth-quarter fireworks, as the Badgers and Boilermakers combined for 26 points in the final frame, the contest began as a defensive struggle. After the defenses controlled the action in a scoreless first quarter, Purdue moved into Wisconsin territory on the final play of the quarter, a 16-yard pass to wide receiver Kyle Ingraham.

On the following play, defensive end Erasmus James hit Orton's arm as he threw to force an errant pass, which cornerback Scott Starks collected for his first interception of the year. The interception was only the third of the season for Orton, but it was also his third in the last two games.

The Badgers failed to capitalize on the turnover, but punter Ken DeBauche blasted a 54-yard punt that put the Boilermakers on their own 14-yard line. On the first play of the ensuing drive, defensive end Jonathan Welsh sacked Orton for a loss of nine yards.

However, Welsh injured his ankle on the play and was forced to leave the game. He did not return in the second half.

With Welsh watching from the sidelines, linebacker Dontez Sanders nearly intercepted Orton twice as the depleted UW pass rush kept pressure on the Heisman hopeful. After a holding penalty set the Boilermakers back 10 yards, defensive tackle Anttaj Hawthorne ended the drive with a third-down sack.

On the ensuing Wisconsin possession, the Badgers got on the board with a 10-play, 78-yard scoring drive. Davis opened the drive with a 33-yard run, but the star tailback left the game after the play. Davis returned later in the drive and scored on a six-yard touchdown run to give the Badgers a 7-0 lead with 1:42 remaining in the first half, but the talented tailback recorded just three yards in the second half and was on the sidelines when the Badgers staged their fourth-quarter comeback.

"My quad kind of tightened up," Davis said. "I tried to play through it, but I wasn't very effective. So I decided I'd probably be better off to just sit out the last quarter."

Davis' touchdown marked the first time Purdue has trailed an opponent this season. The Boilermakers responded quickly, as Jerome Brooks returned the ensuing kickoff 67 yards to the Wisconsin 32-yard line.

However, the Badgers ended the threat on the next play when James sacked Orton, knocking the ball loose. Cooper, who was playing for the injured Welsh, recovered the fumble to shift the momentum in the Badgers' favor.

Following the turnover, Stocco found tight end Owen Daniels over the middle for a 19-yard completion to set up a long field-goal attempt for place kicker Mike Allen. Allen could not convert the 57-yard attempt, but the Badgers entered halftime with a 7-0 advantage.

With a remarkable effort, the Wisconsin defense held the Boilermakers scoreless in the first half.

"In the first half, I don't know how you could play any better than we did against [Orton]," Alvarez said.

On the first defensive series of the second half, James went down after a chop-block from Purdue's Charles Davis injured his ankle. James returned on Purdue's next possession, but left later in the same series and did not return. He will not play in the Badgers' next game against Northwestern.

James' injury was the second of three injuries suffered by members of Wisconsin's starting defensive line. Hawthorne also went down later in the third quarter with a knee injury, but he returned to the game and the injury did not appear to be serious.

With James and Welsh unable to participate, Orton took advantage of a depleted UW pass rush to lead a 12-play, 82-yard drive that culminated in an eight-yard touchdown pass to Charles Davis. Davis' first career touchdown tied the score at 7-7 with 4:32 to play in the third quarter.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Purdue's George Hall intercepted an errant pass from Stocco and returned it 44 yards to the Wisconsin 36-yard line. On the ensuing possession, a pass interference penalty moved the ball to the 21-yard line, setting up a 35-yard field goal for Jones. The kick gave the Boilermakers their first lead of the game at 10-7.

On the Boilermakers' next possession, it was tailback Brandon Jones' turn to exploit the injury-riddled UW defense. Jones ran six times for 30 yards and Orton completed a 23-yard pass to wide-out Taylor Stubblefield as the Boilermakers marched 65 yards to set up a six-yard touchdown run for Orton.

Orton's score gave Purdue a 17-7 lead with 8:00 to play, setting the stage for Wisconsin's remarkable comeback.

"They had this game, and we some way, somehow, we just came away with the victory," Williams said.