Penn State's senior defensive end Tamba Hali spent as much time in Wisconsin's backfield as junior quarterback John Stocco. Then again, the same could be said for the rest of Penn State's defensive line'they sacked Stocco nine times and Hali was responsible for four of them. They reacted to the snap counts as if they were in the offensive huddle and gave Stocco just enough time to put up 313 yards and a touchdown, but never allowed any points of consequence.
Led by senior quarterback Michael Robinson, Penn State's offense spotted their dominant front seven a 21-0 lead in the second quarter and that turned out to be all the points the Nittany Lions would need. PSU's front seven pressured Stocco and forced two interceptions on the day. Simply put, Wisconsin's offensive line was overmatched and seemingly'in the presence of Penn State's talent'overwhelmed.
'When you're back there dropping in pass coverage looking every which way and you just see the quarterback get crushed, that's such a great feeling,' said Penn State sophomore linebacker Dan Connor.
Junior running back Brian Calhoun entered the game averaging 184.1 all-purpose yards per game and 135.3 on the ground but finished the day with only 38 rushing yards on 20 carries and 86 yards overall. Calhoun managed to cross the goal line once but only broke free a handful of times on screens and passes to the flat.
UW's most dynamic weapon was kept in check and the rest of the Badger offense could not pick up the slack'Penn State's defensive line wouldn't let them.
Junior linebacker Paul Posluszny recorded 12 tackles and teamed with Hali to create nine tackles for a loss. In Hali's last home game of his career, he single-handedly shut down the Badger offense by drawing an extra blocker on many downs and pressuring Stocco anyway.
'Obviously, we couldn't block them very well, you could see that,' UW head coach Barry Alvarez said. 'We couldn't establish the run and had a hard time with pressure off the edge.'
Either the Badgers had not prepared for the chaos Hali would cause or they just could not stop it, but one thing is for sure: Penn State knew who No. 91 was and what he could do.
'Our kids have played hard defense all year. Tamba'I've been bragging on Tamba since preseason,' said Penn State head coach Joe Paterno. With nine tackles'but in one fell swoop'Hali put Wisconsin's Big Ten title hopes to rest.
