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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Scott Starks returned a fumble by Kyle Orton 40 yards for a touchdown in the closing minutes to lift Wisconsin to a 20-17 win over Purdue Saturday.
The Boilermakers (5-1, 2-1) were clinging to a 17-14 lead when Orton took a naked bootleg and lunged for a first down. Starks hit Orton low and safety Robert Brooks hit him high, forcing the fumble.
Starks scooped up the loose ball and sprinted to the end zone with 2:36 to play, capping a stunning comeback for the Badgers (7-0, 4-0), who have started the season with seven straight wins for just the second time since 1912.
The play was reviewed, and replays showed the ball was out before Orton's arm hit the ground.
Orton tried to recover on the ensuing series, driving the Boilermakers to the Wisconsin 25. But Ben Jones' 42-yard field goal was wide right. The Badgers ran out the clock.
Until Starks' big play, the Boilermakers - not the Badgers - appeared poised to join Michigan as the only teams with perfect conference records.
Orton scored from 6 yards out with 8 minutes to play to give Purdue a 17-7 lead.
But Badgers sophomore quarterback John Stocco calmly led a 73-yard drive and hit Booker Stanley for a 7-yard touchdown that pulled Wisconsin to 17-14.
Fittingly, it was Wisconsin's defense that came up with the next big play. The Boilermakers came into the game averaging more than 500 yards and 41.8 points a game, but Orton and company were all but shut down. They had yet to face a defense as tough as Wisconsin's, which entered the contest leading the nation in scoring defense with 6.5 points a game.
Orton, one of the front-runners for the Heisman Trophy, was 25-for-45 for 235 yards and a touchdown. But he had three turnovers - he was picked off once and fumbled twice in critical situations.
Badgers defensive end Erasmus James was in the middle of much of the trouble.
James had two sacks and countless pressures on Orton. He forced an interception when he hit Orton's arm in the first half and also caused a fumble on a sack deep in Wisconsin territory at the end of the second quarter to preserve the Badgers' 7-0 lead.
It wasn't until James left with a left ankle injury in the third quarter that Purdue finally got going.
James was hurt when Purdue tight end Charles Davis hit him low on a cut block.