The Penn State Nittany Lions (6-0) are fresh off their second bye week of the season and are set for their second roadtrip is as many games when they head to Madison, Wisconsin, to take on the 5-2 Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium.
James Franklin and company remain one of three teams in the conference with a perfect mark after surviving against USC two weeks ago, and are ranked No. 3 in the AP Top 25 poll. The Nittany Lions will look to continue their winning ways against a confident Wisconsin team, who is winners of its last three.
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Game/Broadcast Details:
Where: Madison, Wisconsin
Stadium: Camp Randall Stadium (Official capacity of 80,321)
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Television: NBC - Noah Eagle (PxP), Todd Blackledge (Color), Kathryn Tappen (Sidelines)
Odds: Penn State opened as a 6.5-point favorite, over/under is 48.5 points.
Resurgent pack of Badgers...
Luke Fickell's tenure in Wisconsin was up and down to start, holding a 10-8 record through his first 18 games, including a 2-2 mark to start the 2024 campaign. That featured uninspiring victories over Western Michigan and South Dakota to start the season, followed by a pair of blowout losses at the hands of Alabama and USC.
Then, the Badgers hit their stride and have played lights out over their last three games. Wisconsin is currently riding a three-game winning streak, with victories over Purdue, Rutgers and most recently Northwestern. The closest margin out of that trio was a 20-point win over the Wildcats over the weekend.
The Wisconsin defense has been a catalyst for this recent surge, holding those teams to just 5.3 points per game during the winning streak. Despite losing starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke and starting running back Chez Mellusi for the season, the offense has come to life in recent weeks as well.
Running back Tawee Walker has shine in the absence of Mellusi, having 418 yards and six scores over the his last three games, as Wisconsin is averaging north of 200 rushing yards per game over that stretch.
The suddenly confident Badgers now sit at 5-2 overall and just a game back in the Big Ten race with a 3-1 mark in conference play. Penn State will look to end that success on Saturday.
Series history:
Despite being conference mates for the last 30+ years, Penn State and Wisconsin's meetings have been sporadic during that time, facing off 18 times and three times over the last decade coming into Saturday.
The Nittany Lions hold the advantage in the all-time series with an 11-9 mark, and have had the upper hand in recent memory. Penn State has won seven of the last eight meeting, which includes a current five-game winning streak over the Badgers since 2012. Wisconsin's last win over the Nittany Lions came in 2011.
James Franklin is 3-0 over the Badgers, with all three victories coming over former head coach Paul Chryst from 2016-2021. That most recent matchup came in 2021, when the Nittany Lions won 16-10 in State College.
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