Wisconsin (2-0 Big Ten, 5-1 overall) used special teams and a dominant running attack to spoil Penn State's homecoming as UW pulled out a 30-23 victory in State College, Pa., Saturday, before a crowd of 107,851.
The Badgers were led by freshman running back Booker Stanley, who replaced junior running back Anthony Davis after Davis left the game with an injury. Stanley did not carry the ball a single time in the first half, but rushed for 119 yards on 24 carries and scored a touchdown over the final two quarters.
\[Stanley] has done that before,"" Head Coach Barry Alvarez said. ""I can't praise him enough. He did it a couple weeks ago at North Carolina and had a 120 yards or 119 yards. I was really impressed with him because that was his first extended duty. To come here against a better outfit, a better football team and do it, that was impressive. He was running touch, he finished his runs, he's physical, he loves to play.""
Wisconsin had two long, time-consuming drives that allowed Stanley to attack the Penn State defense and take time off the clock. On a 13-play, 80-yard drive that took 6:57 off the clock, Stanley carried the ball nine times and capped the drive with his only touchdown run of the day. Then, late in the fourth quarter, he carried the ball eight times on a drive that ate away at the last five minutes of the game and forced Penn State to use all of its timeouts.
""Our game plan every week is just to pound the ball,"" senior fullback Matt Bernstein said. ""For the whole third and fourth quarter we were able to move the ball and Booker did a great job finding the holes and we were just able to push it in.""
Although Penn State (0-2, 2-4) jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, Wisconsin never trailed after the 10:42 mark in the second quarter when junior place kicker Mike Allen hit a 46-yard field goal. UW received a gift from Penn State with under a minute left in the first half as junior defensive lineman Matt Katula recovered a Penn State fumble. Wisconsin struck four plays later as senior quarterback Jim Sorgi found wide receiver Brandon Williams for a 20-yard touchdown.
Wisconsin's defense set the tone in the second half as they came out and caused Penn State to go three and out on three consecutive possessions. On top of that, the Badgers were able to control the clock for the entire second half as they had the ball for over 23 of the 30 minutes.
""[Three and outs are] big,"" said Defensive Coordinator Kevin Cosgrove. ""It's very big. We preach it to our kids, get three and out, three and out, three and out. You've got to compete. It's hard work out there and I thought our kids gave us a very good effort today ... I thought we defended the run really well and really that's what they had to go to.""
Penn State and Wisconsin traded possessions for almost the entire third quarter before junior defensive back Jim Leonhard returned a punt 65 yards to give the Badgers a 23-9 lead. However, the comfortable lead did not last long as sophomore quarterback Michael Robinson found senior tight end Matt Kranchick for a 73-yard touchdown strike.
The Badgers and Nittany Lions swapped scores in the fourth quarter before Stanley and the Wisconsin offensive line seemingly put an end to Penn State's thoughts of a homecoming victory. The Lions had one last chance as Robinson found senior wide receiver Tony Johnson on a Hail Mary pass as time expired, but Johnson was stopped at the 16 yard line.
With the victory Saturday, Wisconsin improved to 2-0 in the Big Ten. More importantly ,they won both games in hostile environments on the road. As balanced as the Big Ten is this season, the early victories away from Camp Randall are a big motivational boost for the Badgers.
""It certainly is hard to win two Big Ten road games to start off, and we have done that,"" Offensive Coordinator Brian White said. ""That was our goal and it keeps us right where we want to be. We've got a huge game against Ohio State; the place should be rocking. It should be a phenomenal atmosphere. When you win in the Big Ten, every game gets bigger.\
