No. 19 Penn State (1-0, 1-0 Big Ten) has upset No. 12 Wisconsin (0-1, 0-1 Big Ten) 16-10 in a game that came down to the wire. The first half was merely a defensive battle with both offenses struggling early. Sean Clifford finishes the day with two touchdowns, but his confidence level didn’t look great in the first half, but in the second half, he really started to find his groove in the new Mike Yurcich offense.
As for their defense, their front line was causing chaos early, lead by defensive tackle PJ Mustipher. Their defensive front was eating the Wisconsin offensive line early, which is not something you commonly say for a team like the Badgers who breed offensive linemen.
As for the Badgers, the defense was all about Jack Sanborn, who was their standout player for the game. Despite the loss, Sanborn showed a ton of promise throughout this game.
The Wisconsin secondary, however, made some nice stops, but there were other times where guys like Scott Nelson were getting torched by Penn State’s receivers, giving up a wide open 49-yard touchdown pass to Penn State’s Jahan Dotson.
Wisconsin’s new running back Chez Mellusi also showed a lot of promise in his first game as a Badger, being quick and explosive throughout the game. One factor that is worth noting is that running back Jalen Berger did not see the field once today. It will be interesting to see if Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst has anything to say about that during his postgame press conference.
As for Penn State, a healthy Noah Cain at running back makes this offense much more intriguing to watch. We didn’t see a ton from him in the first half, but he had some nice runs in the second half, including a goal line touchdown run late in the game.
Penn State looked impressive on defense, but there is still work to be done on the offense. The Nittany Lions will head back home next weekend to host Ball State in what should be a winnable game for them.
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