Penn State senior running back Tony Hunt entered Saturday's game against the Badgers averaging nearly 100 yards per game and having scored 10 touchdowns. Junior quarterback Anthony Morelli has only thrown for seven touchdowns so far this season, and the second highest touchdown total on the team is two, held by sophomore wide receiver Deon Butler.
Surely Penn State players wear nameless jerseys for a reason; anonymity is the objective, as it is believed to beget unity, success and the like. But considering the team's utter reliance on his production this season, Hunt's unsung praises are rather surprising.
Nevertheless, the Badgers took note of not only Hunt's ability, but his importance.
""We really zeroed in on him,"" senior defensive lineman Joe Monty said. ""We wanted to get onto him and get in his head and I think we were able to accomplish that.""
Hunt finished with just 35 yards on 11 carries—the main reason the Nittany Lions only managed three points and 201 total yards on the day.
""We knew coming in that Hunt was a guy who was very patient with his blocks,"" head coach Bret Bielema said. ""I think that as the game unfolded, due to things that our defense was able to do, we forced them to head towards their passing game.""
This development worked in the Badgers' favor as the secondary began to sit on routes, knowing full well that the front seven was containing the run and forcing Penn State to throw. The defensive effort looked as good on paper as it did on the field; Morelli was 19-35 for only 165 yards and was intercepted once by senior safety Roderick Rogers.
PSU managed 36 rushing yards in all—once Hunt's yards are factored in with net yards lost on quarterbacks sacks, etc.—but 22 of those yards were on a third-down scramble by Morelli late in the fourth quarter when the middle was vacated and, given the game situation, UW defenders were indifferent to ground gains.
It all began with stopping Hunt, but that, according to UW sophomore linebacker DeAndre Levy, began in film sessions.
""We saw on film that if we take out his legs early ... we thought we saw a weakness,"" Levy said, referring to an astute observation that was clearly exploited in stopping Hunt on Saturday. ""We wanted to attack him early and take him out of the game.""
""We knew that he was really tough, but early on he was limping off the field a little bit and that was another thing that we emphasized all week was stopping him,"" Levy added. ""Once we stopped him we knew there was nothing they could do.""
It's unclear whether Hunt's ineffectiveness in a physical game is because of a tendency to avoid contact or a particularly low tolerance for injury, but the Badgers took notice and executed properly. As Wisconsin coaches anticipated, Penn State panicked in what wasn't a blowout or insurmountable lead by any stretch; they abandoned the run, and by doing so, effectively abandoned their chance at a balanced and unpredictable offensive attack.
So, too, went their hopes of a win against an ever-improving Badger team, who delivered in front of their charged and towel-toting home crowd.
