MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin had a Ball early into the third quarter against visiting Penn State on Saturday — Montee Ball.
With the second half a little more two minutes old, the junior Badger running back had 20 carries for 77 yards — with touchdown runs of, 1, 2 and 9 yard — to lead Wisconsin to a commanding 35-7 lead over Penn State with 7:22 left in the third quarter.
And when Ball didn’t have the ball, quarterback Russell Wilson did. In the first half, the Badger signal-caller completed 15 of 21 passes for 149 yards, with scoring passes of 4 yards to Nick Toon and 21 yards to Jared Abbrederis.
Wilson also ran five times for 44 yards, completely befuddling the Penn State defense to the delight of a soggy Camp Randall Stadium crowd.
It appears as Wisconsin (9-2, 5-2 entering the game) will earn the Big Ten Conference’s Legends division title and play Michigan State, the Legends division winner, next Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The winner advances to the Rose Bowl.
It remains to be seen if Penn State (9-2, 6-1 entering the game) will finish its season with this contest or if they will go to a postseason bowl game.
Acting Penn State athletic director David Joyner said he wants the Nittany Lions to got a bowl game, while interim head coach Tom Bradley – coaching his third game since Joe Paterno was fired on Nov. 9 in the wake of the Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal — has repeated the same sentiments.
Wisconsin looked like a Rose Bowl-caliber in the second quarter against Penn State.
Ball scored on a one-yard run three seconds into the second quarter to give the Badgers a 14-7 lead, then came back to score again on a 2-yarder with just 2:09 in the first half for a 21-7 lead.
Just 2:08 in the second half, Ball scored again on a nine-yard run, as the badgers capitalized on a fumble by Penn State running back Silas Redd.
Ball’s scores give him 33 total for the season, and he now has 18 consecutive games in which he’s scored at least two touchdowns. He needs just seven touchdowns to pass Barry Sanders of Oklahoma State (39, 1988) for most TDs in a single season.
Wilson’s touchdown passes were also record-setters. Wilson, a transfer from North Carolina State in his final season of eligibility, has thrown at least one touchdown pass in 37 consecutive games, breaking the NCAA record of Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell.
Penn State committed three turnovers, and Wisconsin converted all three into scores. The first came when Matt McGloin was intercepted by Wisconsin’s Shelton Johnson in the first quarter
The second came late in the second quarter, set up when Wisconsin’s Philip Welch kicked off after the Badgers took a 21-7 lead. Penn State’s Michael Zordich took the short kickoff, ran six yards and fumbled after being hit by Wisconsin’s Conor O’Neil. Six plays and 31 yards later Wilson hit Toon for the 4-yard score and a 28-7 halftime lead.
The fourth was on Redd’s fumble, which came on Penn State’s first drive of the second half.
Amazingly, Penn State scored first.
The Nittany Lions took the lead early in the first quarter, when McGloin hit a wide-open Curtis Drake near the goal line for a 44-yard touchdown. Anthony Fera’s PAT gave the Nittany Lions a 7-0 lead. The score capped an eight-play, 80-yard drive that was an aided by a roughing the kicker penalty on fourth down by Wisconsin.
From the beginning, Penn State’s defensive line was overwhelmed by the I-line of Wisconsin, as Lion tackle Devon Still was hindered by an injured back. The starting Badger offensive line weighs 330, 330, 320, 320 and 315. And the five interior linemen average 6-foot-5 inches tall.
That girth and size allowed Wisconsin to totally control the ball.
In the first half, Wisconsin had more first downs (18-4), third-down conversions (7 of 9 vs. 1 of 5) and total yards (278-11). The badgers controlled the ball for 21 minutes and 54 minutes, compared to just 8:06 for Penn State
After the Nittany Lions scored, their offense went dormant. Over their next four drives and 11 plays, they gained just 16 yards. Two of the drives ended in punts, another in McGloin’s interception and the fourth when time ran out in the first half.
Penn State’s offense almost completely came unglued, as evidenced by a two-play sequence in the second quarter when receiver Justin Brown was whistled for an illegal block, tight end Andrew Szczerba was offsides and McGloin drew an unsportsmanlike penalty for spiking the football after the play was whistled dead when Szczerba called for a penalty.
In the first half, McGloin completed 5 of 10 passes for 70 yards, with an interception, while Silas Redd ran six times for 28 yards.
