After suffering two straight defeats to open up Big Ten Conference play, the Wisconsin Badgers football team lost by its biggest margin since 1988, losing to the No. 6 Penn State Nittany Lions 48-7.
The Badgers (0-3 Big Ten, 3-3 overall) had a tough matchup this week against Penn State (3-0, 7-0), but with 81,524 on hand at Camp Randall Stadium, expectations were high for Wisconsin to at least play a competitive game.
But that sentiment was quickly swept away, as the Nittany Lions grabbed a quick lead and did not relinquish their control of the game.
Our team did some good things at times, but overall did not do very many positive things, especially in the first half,"" Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema said.
The Badger defense was able to hold Penn State to only three points in the first quarter on a 50-yard field goal by senior kicker Kevin Kelly. But the second quarter saw Penn State put 21 points on the board, and Wisconsin was never able to recover.
Sophomore running back Evan Royster started the scoring spree with a 2-yard run for a touchdown. Royster ended the day with 14 carries for 60 yards and the one touchdown. Thirty-five seconds later, PSU was again putting points on the scoreboard after senior wide receiver Derrick Williams returned a punt by UW freshman punter Brad Nortman 63 yards for a touchdown. The touchdown return was Williams' fifth of his career, and the third this season - with the other two coming on kick returns.
The Badgers have had success this season against dangerous return men, but broke down against Williams Saturday night.
""I only saw one replay of it and they got leverage out of our left tackle and our left wing and sealed everybody else back inside,"" Bielema said. ""[Williams] started in the middle and it broke out to our left.""
Wisconsin's lone touchdown came with 4:21 left in the first half when senior quarterback Allan Evridge scrambled to the left and was able to beat Penn State to the left pylon for a five yard score.
However, after only getting six first downs in the first half, and 156 yards of total offense, Evridge was benched at the 3:15 mark of the third quarter for backup Dustin Sherer.
Basically, it was the Daryll Clark show all night long as the junior signal-caller for Penn State controlled the entire game from the start of the second quarter. Clark finished with 244 yards completing 16 of his 25 attempts, along with one touchdown - a 44-yard strike to senior wide receiver Deon Butler - and one interception. He also carried the ball six times for a total of 18 yards and two rushing touchdowns.
Clark did not come back into the game after his interception to junior linebacker Culmer St. Jean early in the fourth quarter, and Penn State already had a 41-7 lead at that point.
Offensively for Wisconsin, Sherer led the team with 115 passing yards, while junior running back P.J. Hill rushed for 58. Defensively, senior linebacker Jonathan Casillas led the way with nine tackles, but it was the defense's inconsistency while tackling that allowed PSU to build such a big lead.
""We didn't tackle too [well] today. We tackled well last week but we can't be up-and-down like that,"" senior linebacker and team captain DeAndre Levy said.
It is those types of inconsistencies on both sides of the ball that have left Wisconsin 0-3 in the Big Ten.
The Badgers head to Iowa next weekend to take on the Hawkeyes (1-2 Big Ten, 4-3 overall).
