Barry Alvarez admittedly did not imagine his team would be playing for a Big Ten championship in his last year as Wisconsin's head coach.
But now, in the tenth week of a surprising season, his Badgers (5-1 Big Ten, 8-1 overall) have designs on winning the conference title. To do so, they will need to wrest it away from Joe Paterno and Penn State (5-1 Big Ten, 8-1 overall) Saturday in State College, Pa.
'That's a hard place to play,' Alvarez said at his weekly press conference Monday afternoon. 'It's always a tough crowd, a loud crowd. And they're good players, and they're a good team.'
Whether they are better than the Badgers is a question that will be answered Saturday afternoon at the nation's second largest college football venue. Beaver Stadium is smaller than Michigan's Big House by fewer than 400 seats, and Alvarez said he is hearing that officials are possibly expecting the largest crowd on record.
Junior quarterback John Stocco, who has a 17-4 record as a starter at UW, says that he, for one, will not be fazed.
'I have been in situations like this before on the road in a hostile environment. I kind of know what to expect on how to handle it,' he said.
The Badgers will certainly need that composure against a Penn State defense that has allowed only 297 yards and 16 points per game. The strength on that side of the ball for the Nittany Lions lies mainly in the front seven, which Alvarez called 'outstanding.'
That does not translate well for the Badger offense, which relies heavily on the nation's leader in touchdowns, Brian Calhoun. The junior running back has crossed into the endzone 21 times, including five in Wisconsin's most recent win over Illinois.
In a 44-14 win over Minnesota on Oct 1, Penn State held fleet running back Laurence Maroney to 48 yards on 16 carries. That is the same Maroney who ran roughshod over the UW defense for a season-high 258 yards.
'When you can shut down that running game, that is a pretty good sign of how good that defense is, so we have a challenge,' senior offensive lineman Matt Lawrence said.
It will be a homecoming of sorts for Lawrence, who was born in western Pennsylvania. He had nothing but praise for the players he will be face- to-face with this weekend.
'They are just good,' he said. 'All of them are athletic. You don't have just one run stopper in the middle, so you can't just stop one guy. They are all great athletes, so that is the greatest challenge.'
The defense of Wisconsin will have a challenge of its own on their hands. They will have to contend with senior quarterback Michael Robinson, a dual threat who will tuck the ball and run if given the opportunity. With his arm and legs, Robinson has played a role in a combined 23 touchdowns this season'10 running, 13 passing. He leads an attack that averages 428 yards per game.
'He's very talented,' Alvarez said of Robinson. 'He can do it all, and he can hurt you a lot of different ways.'
Alvarez would not tip his hand and say what defensive tactics the Badgers would use to slow down Robinson. Blitzing, he said, though, could be dangerous.
'[Robinson] has the potential to get a lot of yardage, so he puts a lot of stress on you that way,' he said.
Alvarez also warned of Penn State's other weapons on offense. Those would include, among others, junior running back Tony Hunt, who has averaged over six yards per touch.
All told, it's not the statistics that are going to be important to Alvarez when this ever so crucial game against Penn State is over. It's the outcome.
'The bottom line, the goal that I look at every week,' he said, 'is whether you win or lose.'
