After their thrilling, come-from-behind 33-30 victory in the Coliseum over USC on Saturday, Oct. 12, the Penn State Nittany Lions are ranked near the top of the college football polls at No. 3 in the nation.
A look at teams like Alabama, Texas, Tennessee or Clemson, however, would make it clear that it is not a very safe place to be this year.
Still, the Lions are 6-0, and the win over the Trojans was one of their most satisfying successes in a long time.
The season moves on now, though, and this week’s Big Ten contest at the 5-2 Wisconsin Badgers portends to be as difficult and physically challenging as any the Lions have faced so far.
Coming back home after their 23-3 victory over the Northwestern Wildcats, the Badgers would love nothing more than to make their mark with a victory over a top five team.
And they have the talent and the incentive to pull it off.
The two teams have met 20 times altogether with Penn State holding a slim 11-9 advantage. The Lions, however, have won the last five in a row dating back to their 24-21 victory at home in 2012. Since then there were wins in 2013, 2016, 2018 and the last one in 2021.
In the 2021 game, Penn State’s Noah Cain broke a 10-10 tie and scored on a two-yard run with nine minutes to play, and the Lions pulled out a taut, 16-10 win in Madison.
None of the wins in the Penn State streak were one-sided and they all went deep into the fourth quarter.
Last week, after a scoreless first quarter, Wisconsin scored two touchdowns in the second quarter and then essentially turned the game over to its defense.
Quarterback Braedyn Locke scored first on an eight-yard run, and then Cade Yacamelli made it 14-0 with a three-yard run as the first quarter ran out.
Northwestern scored in the third quarter on a 26-yard field goal, but the Badgers struck back with a three-yard touchdown pass from Locke to Tucker Ashcraft that in essence put the game out of reach for the Wildcats.
The only score in the fourth quarter was a Wisconsin safety that set the final score at 23-3.
The Badger defense was in top form all day. It limited Northwestern to just 82 passing yards and 209 total yards with no touchdowns.
Locke was 14-for-24 for 160 yards and the touchdown to Ashcraft, while Tawee Walker ran 23 times for 126 yards and both Locke and Yacamelli scored on runs.
The win was the third in a row for Wisconsin after beating Rutgers, 42-7, and Purdue, 52-6, the two weeks before.
The Badgers’ two losses came at USC, 38-21, on Saturday, Sept. 28, and Alabama at home, 42-10, on Saturday, Sept. 14.
For the season, Wisconsin is scoring 29 points per game vs 17.5 for its opponents and gaining an average for 406 yards versus 295 for opponents.
The Badgers have three interceptions, recovered six fumbles and have 12 sacks for 82 yards lost.
For Penn State, the USC win had major significance in a number of ways.
For one, it answered the question whether this Penn State team could come back from a deficit in a desperate situation and in a hostile environment. The Lions were down by two touchdowns at halftime but came back to tie the game and eventually send it into overtime. Their final drive, with the two clutch fourth-down catches by Julian Fleming, was classic, and then the interception by Jaylen Reed to subsequently stop USC put the team in the position to win the game.
Tyler Warren’s record-setting game elevated him to the status of being one of the best tight ends in the country if not one of the best players.
Seventeen catches for 224 yards are both stats among the best in PSU football history.
And teams will now have to make adjustments to keep Warren under control, possibly opening things for the young Lion wide receivers.
Warren was named National Player of the Week by the Associated Press, Maxwell Award, Mackey Award and Paul Hornung Award. He was also named the Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week.
Finally, redshirt freshman kicker Ryan Barker was named Big Ten Freshman of the week for his four field goals of 34, 33, 20 and 36 yards against USC. The 36-yarder in overtime was the game-winning kick.
For the second week in a row, the Lions will travel to face a good football team in a tough environment, this time even at night.
And with the importance — and pressure — building each week, it will be another severe test for this Nittany Lion team.
