[media-credit name=’MATTHEW KUTZ/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Although this weekend's game between the Big Ten leading Wisconsin Badgers (6-1, 3-1) and the cellar-dwelling Purdue Boilermakers (2-4, 0-3) doesn't appear to be the most interesting game on the Big Ten slate, it's far from lacking in the storyline department.

One would be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't remember last year's game between the two teams, when the No. 10 Badgers took their undefeated record into West Lafayette to battle the No. 5 Boilermakers in their homecoming game.

Trailing by 10 points with only minutes left in the game, the Badgers staged an epic comeback, capped off by Scott Starks' 40-yard touchdown return of Purdue quarterback Kyle Orton's fumble with 2:36 to play.

While Purdue has struggled this season, last year's setting is somewhat reversed.

On Saturday, it's the No. 19 Badgers' turn to host homecoming against the unranked Boilermakers.

As one of the preseason Big Ten favorites, the Boilermakers have underachieved, going winless in conference play thus far. After opening up the season with two wins, the Boilermakers have lost four straight, including Big Ten losses to Minnesota, Iowa and Northwestern.

Even though the Boilermakers are staggering at the moment, UW offensive lineman Joe Thomas is careful not to underestimate their ability.

"They've had three really close games," Thomas said. "They took Minnesota to the wire, Northwestern to the wire — they're a really good team. Many people had them picked to win the Big Ten. They've had a few bumps in the road, but basically they have the same defense they had last year and a lot of the same guys back on offense."

It's true that Purdue is returning a lot of starters on defense from last season — all of them to be exact. However, the defense has been the major weakness for the Boilermakers so far this season.

In Big Ten play, the Purdue defense ranks last in pass defense, ninth in rush defense and at the bottom in total defense. That's not good news for Purdue fans, especially with Wisconsin's high-powered offense on their plate for this weekend.

The Badgers, behind Brian Calhoun and the running game, along with the sudden emergence of John Stocco and the passing game, are second in the Big Ten in scoring at 40.7 points per game.

Calhoun's 959 yards on the ground is good enough for second in the Big Ten to go along with his 14 trips past the goal line.

On offense, the Boilermakers are in the middle of a slight quarterback controversy. After a sub-par performance out of starter Brandon Kirsch in last week's loss to Northwestern, head coach Joe Tiller and company have been practicing both Kirsch and backup Curtis Painter with the first team offense. Currently the Boilermakers have not named a starter for Saturday's contest.

For the Badger defense, which player is under center could play an important role.

"They put over 500 yards on the board last week," defensive coordinator Bret Bielema said. "With that offense in that particular scheme of things, it's how the quarterback is playing: what he's doing, what he's doing well, what he's not doing well."

For the Badgers, a depleted defensive line and overall struggles with the entire defense remain concerns going into Saturday's game. In the last two weeks, the defense has surrendered 85 points combined in the loss to Northwestern and the come-from-behind victory in Minnesota.

As a result of the now famous punt block by Jonathan Casillas in the closing seconds last weekend, the Badgers are riding a huge wave of momentum into Camp Randall this weekend as the team will try to at least remain tied at the top of the conference standings.

So how much will last year's memorable finish in West Lafayette impact this weekend's showdown?

"I think they remember what happened last year — they were winning with only a few minutes left of the clock," Thomas said. "Had it not been for the fumble, they probably would have won that game and that's probably a lot of motivation for them to come back in here for our homecoming and try and beat and get us for what we did to them down in their place last year."

The continually growing rivalry has a distinctive meaning for Bielema and the Badgers.

"I think this rivalry is a unique one — it's mutual respect between Coach Tiller and Coach Alvarez for the way they are," Bielema said. "They both have a lot of similarities about how they want to build a program. I don't see it as being a Northwestern rivalry or anything like that. I think it's a rivalry about 'Let's see what you've got, I've got this.'"