Saturday night no. 3 Penn State will travel to Camp Randall Stadium for one of their toughest tests of the 2024 season thus far. Awaiting the 6-0 Nittany Lions is a 5-2 Wisconsin team that has won three games in a row.
While the Nittany Lions will travel to Madison as 6.5 point favorites over the Badgers, they should be expecting a fight on Saturday night. Ahead of the matchup, we caught up with Seamus Rohrer of BadgerBlitz to go behind enemy lines and get some pregame perspective from Wisconsin
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HVI: The past three weeks Wisconsin has played much better football, but a lot of that would appear to be due to a soft schedule. What has gone right for the Badgers during this three game winning streak?
SR: The biggest change in my eyes is that the play in the trenches has gotten better. Wisconsin’s offensive line has performed at a higher level than in recent down seasons this fall under new position coach AJ Blazek. Veteran tackles Jack Nelson and Riley Mahlman are playing some of the best football of their careers, and first-year starter and former top-75 recruit Joe Brunner has been a highlight at left guard as well.
The defensive line is still somewhat of an issue personnel-wise, but the front seven as a whole has played better during the Badgers’ win streak as well. A lot of that has to do with the improved play of the inside backers, namely Arkansas transfer Jaheim Thomas. Wisconsin has stopped the run proficiently and the defense is simply flying around more than they were the first four weeks of the season.
HVI: Braedyn Locke appears to really struggle when he is under pressure. The trio of Abdul Carter, Zane Durant, and Dani Dennis-Sutton has been a handful for opposing offensive lines this season. Do you believe the Badger offensive line can hold up against Penn State's strong front seven in pass protection? If Locke has time to throw, who are his main targets in the passing game?
SR: Locke has struggled under pressure, but part of the reason he’s played some of the best football of his career in recent weeks is that he’s been kept relatively clean in the pocket. Wisconsin’s starting offensive line is averaging 3.7 pressures-per-game, according to Pro Football Focus. Still, Penn State’s defensive front is one of the best in the nation and Abdul Carter, in particular, is the best edge player Wisconsin has and probably will play this season. I fully expect the Nittany Lions to wreak a little havoc, but the Badgers’ offensive line should be better equipped than most to handle it.
Locke’s favorite targets are slot receiver Will Pauling and wideout Vinny Anthony. Pauling is a twitchy player with a great release. The Badgers like to get him involved in a variety of ways, and he tends to rack up targets with Locke under center. Anthony, meanwhile, has emerged as the Badgers’ resident deep threat this season, an element they’d been sorely missing. He’s a former track star with blazing speed but is still developing his game as a well-rounded receiver.
HVI: Wisconsin's defense seemed to take a pretty big hit preseason when they lost James Thompson Jr. for the season. That said, who are some key players for the Nittany Lions to know about on the Badger defense?
SR: I mentioned the MIKE linebacker Jaheim Thomas already, and he and Jake Chaney are two of the key cogs as the starting inside linebackers. In defensive coordinator Mike Tressel’s scheme, where he asks his linebackers to cover a lot of ground, their play is paramount.
Safety Hunter Wohler is likely the best pound-for-pound player on defense. He can line up everywhere and is always around the ball (37 tackles, 6 pass-breakups).
As for a sneakier name, keep an eye on outside linebacker Sebastian Cheeks. The North Carolina transfer has provided a spark on the edge in recent weeks where the Badgers have really lacked a consistent pass-rush. He transitioned from inside backer to OLB this fall camp, but it appears to be a very natural position for him.
HVI: How can Penn State exploit Wisconsin's defense to make it look more like the unit that struggled against Alabama and USC?
SR: If I was Andy Kotelnicki, I would lean heavily on the two-headed monster of Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen. Wisconsin’s run defense has been good in recent weeks, but the defensive line remains a soft spot. Wisconsin has good cover corners on the outside, but tight end Tyler Warren figures to be a mismatch that the Badgers will struggle to deal with.
Alabama and USC out-classed the Badgers, particularly with their talent on the perimeter at receiver. With the Nittany Lions, I’m more concerned about Warren and that running back tandem.
HVI: What do the Badgers need to do in order to pull the upset on Saturday night?
SR: Wisconsin needs to stick to who it’s become these past three games if it wants to upset Penn State. That means relying on a strong running game with a big workload for tailback Tawee Walker and using the run to set up bigger plays in the passing game.
I think the Badgers are going to need to get the ball out fast against this vaunted Penn State font. The rhythm passing game — an area where he’s been inconsistent throughout his career — will be vital for Braedyn Locke.
Defensively, the Badgers need to find some way to generate pressure. The Nittany Lions have too much talent on offense for Wisconsin to have a shot without creating havoc. They’ll need to crank up the heat to keep this offense off-schedule. The pass-rush has been hot and cold in Madison, but it’ll need to be humming all night for an upset to be on the table.
HVI: What is your score prediction?
SR: I’ll take Penn State 24-21. I think this is a four-quarter game at Camp Randall Stadium, but ultimately, Wisconsin’s offense figures to struggle a bit against the best defense it’s played since Alabama. What’s more, the Nittany Lions showed some serious growth and moxie in that 14-point comeback against USC two weeks ago. If there’s a time for Luke Fickell’s first signature win in Madison, it’s Saturday night. Still, give me Penn State in what could be a heartbreaker for Badger fans.
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