On a beautiful balmy summer-like Saturday in magnificent Madison, Wis., visiting Penn State fans who were savoring the colorful sights and aromas of the Farmer’s Market ringing the State Capitol were suddenly surprised to hear the clarion sounds of Nittany Lion fight songs blaring from the balcony of the Capitol Rotunda, courtesy of the Penn State Pep Band.
About the same time, at the opposite end of pedestrian-friendly State Street (which runs 10 blocks from the Capitol down to the University campus), Badger alumni mingled with students sipping suds in the Memorial Union’s German-themed Rathskeller or lounged languidly on the terrace outside the striking 19th-century, red-brick Armory, watching the varsity crew stroke its scull across the shimmering waters of Lake Mendota and enjoying the golden-hued autumn vista out toward Picnic Point, near where a big white tent was set up for Penn State’s boisterous pre-game pep rally.
But after the sly 15-member Penn State Pep Band made its way from the Capitol to the pep rally tent to help President Graham Spanier, Athletic Director Tim Curley, Alumni Association Director Roger Williams, the cheerleaders and Nittany Lion mascot rev up the crowd of loyal Lion fans, the Wisconsin alumni had little to enjoy in Camp Randall Stadium Saturday evening.
Before the 36th consecutive sellout crowd in that venerable arena plus an ESPN television audience, the undefeated Nittany Lion football team sliced and diced its way through the wounded and weary Badgers to hand them their third consecutive loss by a surprising but convincing 48-7 margin.
The team that was ranked highest among Big Ten schools at No. 8 in the polls just two weeks earlier was embarrassed by the new kids on the block, who had risen—as fast as the Badgers had fallen—to No. 6 nationally. But No. 24 Wisconsin’s previous two losses had come by just two and three points to Michigan and Ohio State in the last minutes of those contests. By contrast, the Nittany Lions’ victory was dominating on all fronts and catapulted Penn State into the No. 3 spot in both the writers’ and coaches’ polls.
Junior quarterback Daryll Clark passed and ran the Lions to the lopsided win, while Penn State’s defense trapped the Badgers in their own den, causing their deflated fans to beat an early exit to the local nightspots. Not even the return of the high-energy Wisconsin band, which had been banned from the Ohio State game because of alleged hazing of new members, could satiate the somber red-clad crew on this nefarious night.
However, in the southeast corner of the stadium, the visiting pep band, mimicking Wisconsin fans in their blue paw-printed cheeseheads, had the Penn State section rocking and rolling.
While the Big Ten’s No. 1 defense harassed two Badger quarterbacks and stuffed their top two rushers, Clark and his band of merry men cruised up and down the Camp Randall turf for six touchdowns and two field goals to hand the Badgers their worst home field loss since 1989.
On their last two visits to the Civil War training camp turned football gridiron, the Nittany Lions could not even score a touchdown, losing by scores of 16-3 and 13-3. On Saturday, they could hardly avoid scoring, even when the second string was just trying to run out the clock in the fourth quarter.
The team that entered the game with the nation’s most balanced offense saw the Wisconsin defense stacked to stop the Big Ten’s leading rushing attack. So Clark took to the air to move his team for a career-high 244 yards on 16 completions in 25 attempts, including a 44-yard TD toss to Deon Butler. In addition to the 10 completions to his Terrific Trio of Butler, Derrick Williams and Jordan Norwood, Clark spread six more among four other receivers. Collectively, they helped set up three more touchdowns and two Kevin Kelly field goals. Two of the TDs were scored by Clark himself on two- and four-yard keepers through the right side at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second. The other was tallied by tailback Evan Royster on a two-yard run to the corner off an option pitch from Clark.
But the touchdown that broke the game open came on a stirring 63-yard punt return by Williams in the second quarter to give the visitors a 17-0 lead, before the Badgers ever got beyond their own 37-yard line. Williams started up the middle, then cut to the right behind a wall of blockers. Nate Stupar took the punter out of the way to clear Williams’ path to the end zone. It was the third kick return score of the season for the athletic, all-around performer, who took kickoff returns to the house 89 yards against Coastal Carolina and 94 yards against Illinois. He now has five kick returns for TDs in his career—three punts and two kickoffs—the most ever in the Joe Paterno era.
State’s final six-pointer was scored by backup QB Pat Devlin on a one-yard keeper, after he had moved the second-team offense 51 yards in eight plays, while the Lions played keep-away in the fourth quarter. Devlin had thrown an eight-yard laser to wide receiver James McDonald on third-and-four and a screen pass to fullback Joe Suhey that went 19 yards on a third-and-nine call.
Kelly’s first three-pointer was a booming 50-yarder that came late in the first quarter, after the Lions dominated field position. His second came late in the third quarter, after cornerback Lydell Sargeant had made the first of his two interceptions and doomed Wisconsin’s starting quarterback Allan Evridge to ride the bench the rest of the game.
These raised Kelly’s career field goal record to 67 and extended to 27 his record for consecutive games in which he has made at least one. His career scoring record rose to 370 points.
Meanwhile, the Lion defense, which led the conference in sacks, rushing, pass efficiency and total defense, kept the Badgers bottled up in their own den for most of the night, allowing them to cross the 50-yard line only four times in 14 possessions. To further frustrate the Wisconsin offense, the Lions stopped four of those possessions by getting turnovers.
The Big Ten’s sack leader Aaron Maybin had a monster game with six tackles, three of which went for losses of 15 yards. He also forced two fumbles by Wisconsin quarterbacks, broke up a pass and had a QB hurry. Shortly before halftime, Maybin slammed Evridge to the ground on the WI-10 and knocked loose a fumble, which Josh Hull recovered on the WI-16. Two plays later, Clark crossed the goal line to give Penn State a comfortable 24-7 halftime lead.
An equal opportunity sacker, Maybin slammed Badger backup QB Dustin Scherer for a 12-yard loss and stripped the ball early in the fourth quarter. This came after Sargeant had intercepted Scherer and returned the ball 55 yards late in the third quarter. Defensive tackle Ollie Ogbu had gotten State’s first sack in the first quarter on a third-and-four situation to end a Badger possession.
Not only did State’s defensive front seven limit Wisconsin’s two huge tailbacks—P.J. Hill and John Clay—to 101 yards on 25 carries but they frustrated the passers, as defensive tackle Jared Odrick batted down two and Maybin one.
Penn State’s defensive dominance, offensive explosiveness and spectacular special teams play made its performance in Madison the most impressive of the season.
But next week Penn State’s 89th Homecoming crowd is going to be looking for its most redemptive performance in a decade, when major nemesis Michigan comes to town with a new coach, a new system and a history of nine straight wins over the Lions—but with four losses already this fall, including Saturday’s first ever to a MAC team, a 13-10 shocker to a 1-4 Toledo squad.
New Head Coach Rich Rodriquez has had trouble transplanting his successful West Virginia program to Ann Arbor, but an upset over the Lions, who now have that big No. 3 target on their back, would ruin more than just Homecoming dreams for Penn State. And with a student section White Out declared for the 4:30 kickoff and kids camping out at Paternoville all week, the stage is set for a really big show in Beaver Stadium Saturday.
For the glory,
