When Matt Campbell was announced as the head coach for the Nittany Lions, a faction of Iowa State fans told us to get ready for inexplicable losses to teams Penn State would have no business losing to. Now, to not discredit Wisconsin, maybe this year, they are a team Penn State has business losing to, but on Paper, this shouldn’t have been a contest.
Either way, the Lions now sit at 3-1, having lost to their only Power 4 competition, in a game they were favored by 10. This is exactly what Cyclone
fans warned us about. Campbell spent so much time punching above his weight at Iowa State, that when his team ascended to the top of the Big 12, he didn’t realize he need to punch down as much as he needed to punch up.
At Penn State, he now finds himself in a situation where he’s already quite close to the top. So nearly everyone is looking to punch up to the Nittany Lions, and he needs to start punching down. After what happened in the rest of the conference, there will be no top 10 teams on the schedule. There may not even be a single ranked team by the time Penn State faces them, so that’s a lot of punching down.
Penn State controlled the first quarter, but only came away with three points. Ryan Barker made a 22-yard field goal, and Penn State led 3-0 after one quarter. The red zone woes continued to bite the Lions, as they couldn’t punch the ball in from the 3-yard line and had to settle for the field goal. Those four points proved to be prophetic.
The second quarter turned into a wild stretch. Josiah Zayas intercepted a Colton Joseph pass and returned it 49 yards for a touchdown, extending Penn State’s lead to 10-0. Rocco Becht then punched in a 3-yard rushing touchdown, making it 17-0. Wisconsin got on the board when Joseph ran for a 7-yard touchdown, cutting the gap to 17-7 at halftime.
Wisconsin continued clawing back in the third quarter. Gavin Lahm hit a 34-yard field goal, then Barker answered with a 37-yard field goal of his own. Penn State led 20-10 heading into the fourth.
The fourth quarter belonged to Wisconsin. Colton Joseph threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Eugene Hilton Jr., cutting the deficit to 20-17. With just over a minute left, Joseph connected with Jacob Harris on a 72-yard touchdown strike, and Wisconsin took the lead for the first time all game, 24-20. Penn State could not answer, and the game ended with Wisconsin on top, 24-20.
Who knows what this Wisconsin team will be at season’s end. Maybe they’ll prove to be pretty good, and this is not a particularly bad loss. Maybe it proves that Penn State is further behind than we all thought, but, after a 17-0 start, what we do know is the Lions need to figure out life without Koby Howard fast, because when the defense hands you 14 points, it should be easy to put the opponent away.
Instead, we saw a conservative game plan that allowed the Badgers to come all the way back, from down 17.
Stats and Storylines
233 – Total yards for Penn State. That’s not going to cut it.
41% – Rocco Becht’s completion percentage in the game. Is that bad?
+2 – Penn State’s turnover margin in this game. Is that good?
