The Badgers' fears heading into Happy Valley became a sad reality against a better Penn State team on Saturday.
Quarterback Michael Robinson ran and passed all over the Badger's porous defense. The Nittany Lions front four dominated the line of scrimmage, harassing UW junior quarterback John Stocco and holding junior tailback Brian Calhoun, who had been averaging over 135 yards per game, to only 38 on the ground. The Badgers' hopes of winning a Big Ten Championship for head coach Barry Alvarez in his final season were all but eliminated when Penn State crushed UW 35-14.
In a match-up of the Big Ten's top defense in Penn State, which was allowing just over 16 points per game, and UW's juggernaut offense, leading the Big Ten with almost 40 points per game, Penn State's powerhouse defense out muscled UW's offense. Penn State senior defensive end Tamba Hali turned in a performance reminiscent of Erasmus James' against Penn State last season when James tortured the Lions' offensive line and injured quarterbacks Zach Mills and Robinson. Hali had a historic performance of his own against UW when he tied a Penn State record with four sacks and set a school record with seven tackles for loss.
'He's a lot like Erasmus,' UW fifth-year tight end Jason Paciask said. 'He's got that motor, plays with good leverage [and is] great with his hands.'
While Hali and the rest of Penn State's defensive front pressured Stocco all game with nine sacks and made things miserable for the Badgers' offense, Robinson did the same to UW's defense. Robinson led the Nittany Lions to a score on their first drive of the game with a 43-yard strike to freshman wide receiver Deon Butler less than two minutes into the game. After the Badgers converted a fourth down on a gutsy call by Alvarez from their own 35 yard-line on their first drive of the game, the Penn State defense stepped-up to force a punt. Alvarez felt the fourth-down call was necessary.
'I knew it was going to be hard to move it on them,' he said. 'I knew what type of team they had. I didn't want to get off the field right away. I thought it would be worth taking a chance and sending a message to the kids.'
Penn State's offense then cruised down the field for 81 yards on 11 plays, capped by a nine yard touchdown run by Tony Hunt. Down two touchdowns, the Badgers drove inside Penn State's five yard line before Stocco was intercepted by cornerback Alan Zemaitis in the end zone.
Penn State took advantage of Stocco's miscue by driving 80 yards and scoring on a three-yard run by Brandon Snow giving them a 21-0 lead at halftime.
The high point of the game for the Badgers came when Calhoun scored his 22nd touchdown from one yard out in the fourth quarter, breaking Ron Dayne's UW record for touchdowns in a season.
But Robinson responded when he connected with Butler on a 47-yard touchdown pass in which UW senior Brett Bell was badly burned again. Robinson totaled 363 yards'125 of them rushing'en route to the win.
'He's a big guy, he's a fast guy, he's a strong guy, he's a guy that can throw the ball,' UW senior linebacker Dontez Sanders said. 'He's a dangerous player.'
