No. 13 Penn State falls to Wisconsin at home
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With 73 seconds to play in the game, Wisconsin went to the air and it paid off. The Badgers' Colton Joseph found Jacob Harris for a 72-yard touchdown pass which put Wisconsin ahead by four points over No. 13-ranked Penn State in State College.
The Badgers' defense held on from there, preventing Penn State from winning at Beaver Stadium as Wisconsin left with a narrow 24-20 win in the Big Ten opener for both teams.
Wisconsin out-gained Penn State on Saturday in total yards (355 to 233), passing yards (235 to 114), rushing yards (120 to 119) and yards per play (5.4 to 3.6)
Joseph finished the game with 235 yards as he went 18 for 38 with two touchdowns, although Penn State's defense did force three interceptions. Penn State's Rocco Becht went 12 for 29 for 114 yards and an interception. On the ground, Wisconsin's Darrion Dupree had 52 rushing yards on eight attempts and Penn State's James Peoples had 14 rushes for 67 yards.
Penn State held a 17-0 lead early in the second quarter, but the offense would stall after that.
After a 51-yard interception return by Penn State gave the Nittany Lions a 10-0 lead with 12:50 to play until halftime, Becht would punch in a touchdown from three yards out for a 17-0 lead with 10:29 to play.
Wisconsin would push in the second quarter and with 1:18 to play, Joseph ran it in from 7 yards out to make it a 17-7 deficit.
An early third-quarter field goal by Wisconsin from 34 yards out made it a 17-10 deficit, but Penn State went back ahead by 10 when the Nittany Lions booted a 37-yard field goal with 3:53 to play.
But those three points were all the No. 13-ranked Nittany Lions would score in the final two quarters.
The Nittany Lions allowed two sacks and narrowly beat Wisconsin in time of possession -- 30:26 to 29:34.
Penn State has a short week this week and heads to Northwestern for a Friday night kickoff at 8 p.m. Penn State is back at Beaver Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 10 for a 7:30 p.m. game against No. 12 USC.