WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) – Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez was asked whether he preferred having a good defense or a good offense heading into a big game.

“Yeah, the better one,” Alvarez deadpanned.

That’d be a tough call when Purdue’s high-powered offense is on one side and Wisconsin’s stifling defense is on the other. The two meet Saturday in a matchup of Big Ten unbeatens.

No. 5 Purdue (5-0, 2-0) is averaging 41.8 points a game and is led by quarterback Kyle Orton, perhaps the leading contender for the Heisman Trophy.

“This is the best team by far that we’ve played,” Alvarez said. “And you got the leading contender for the Heisman Trophy running their offense, and a very effective offense, and a defense that’s probably the biggest surprise with their team.”

The 10th-ranked Badgers (6-0, 3-0), led by a dominant defensive line including Erasmus James and Anttaj Hawthorne, are holding opponents to a nation-leading 6.5 points a game.

“We are who we are and they are who they are,” Purdue coach Joe Tiller said. “Each team certainly has been able to put up impressive numbers with their style of play.”

It would be hard to find an offense executing better than the one in West Lafayette.

Orton has thrown for 1,642 yards, a nation-leading 18 touchdowns and just two interceptions.

“We’re playing pretty close to mistake-free football right now,” Orton said. “Hopefully we’ll just keep winning the tight football games and get better as a football team.”

In his fourth year as a starter, Orton has mastered Tiller’s complicated spread offense. The system is designed to give Orton multiple options. Often that means finding Taylor Stubblefield for big gains.

Stubblefield has caught 11 of Orton’s 18 TD passes and broke the Big Ten record for career receptions last week at Penn State.

Tiller knows Orton’s senior leadership will be more important than ever against Wisconsin’s stout defense.

“We’ve got to rely on the experience we have behind center to bail you out in certain situations,” Tiller said.

In their fourth year together on Wisconsin’s defensive line, James and Hawthorne have been providing plenty of sticky situations for opposing offenses.

“I can’t imagine them having a better defense than that,” Tiller said. “They have four Sunday afternoon guys in their defensive front and that is rare.”

James leads the Big Ten with six sacks, and even if the Boilermakers get past that impressive front, hard hitters like Dontez Sanders and Jim Leonhard are right there waiting for them.

For that reason, Tiller gives the edge to Wisconsin.

“You drive for show and you putt for dough,” Tiller said. “Offensively you entertain, defensively you win games.”

Even after losing seven of last year’s starters to the NFL, Purdue’s defense has been surprisingly good, especially in a 20-13 win over the Nittany Lions last week.

The young, athletic unit will face its stiffest test yet this weekend against the powerful Badgers’ running game.

Anthony Davis has rushed for 459 yards and five touchdowns in just three games and quarterback John Stocco is improving every week.

Stocco threw for 169 yards and two touchdowns in last week’s win at Ohio State.

“They were going to try to make John Stocco win the game, make us throw the football, and he responded,” Alvarez said.

After missing 3 games with an eye injury, Davis has been brilliant. So much so that Alvarez thinks he deserves to be right up there with Orton at the front of the Heisman race.

“You know, we have a lot of season left, and if he continues to play as he has played and put up the numbers, consistent numbers, with the type of schedule that we have left, then I think he should be mentioned right with the same group,” he said.