For certain, Penn State is heading into its toughest, heaviest-hitting, most critical challenge of this not-so-young football season.
It's arguably the most important game for the program since 2005.
So what timing it is that Saturday's game is in Madison, Wis., where everything has gone horribly wrong for the the Nittany Lions the past few years. From a quarterback being carried out on a stretcher to a head coach being carted away with a broken leg.
To an offense that couldn't manage one measly touchdown in eight quarters.
To that home crowd that's the loudest, craziest, best stadium-shaking group in the Big Ten.
These Lions?
Give them this: They seem confident, focused and even a bit loose and looking forward to putting their perfect record on the line against the Wisconsin Badgers.
"I'm going to love it. I can't wait to get out there,"
senior receiver Jordan Norwood said. "I can't wait to hear their fans yelling at us. Hopefully, we'll be able to quiet them down a little bit."
Quarterback Daryll Clark sees an opportunity to prove themselves, to prove their high ranking.
"It's been like that for the past five years. We get no type of respect, man. And that's fine,"
he said. "There's nothing better than going out and proving people wrong."
"This is a real test. This is smash-mouth football,"
senior receiver Deon Butler said. "I think everybody's By FRANK BODANI"
Daily Record/Sunday News
For certain, Penn State is heading into its toughest, heaviest-hitting, most critical challenge of this not-so-young football season.
It's arguably the most important game for the program since 2005.
So what timing it is that Saturday's game is in Madison, Wis., where everything has gone horribly wrong for the the Nittany Lions the past few years. From a quarterback being carried out on a stretcher to a head coach being carted away with a broken leg.
To an offense that couldn't manage one measly touchdown in eight quarters.
To that home crowd that's the loudest, craziest, best stadium-shaking group in the Big Ten.
These Lions?
Give them this: They seem confident, focused and even a bit loose and looking forward to putting their perfect record on the line against the Wisconsin Badgers.
"I'm going to love it. I can't wait to get out there,"
senior receiver Jordan Norwood said. "I can't wait to hear their fans yelling at us. Hopefully, we'll be able to quiet them down a little bit."
Quarterback Daryll Clark sees an opportunity to prove themselves, to prove their high ranking.
"It's been like that for the past five years. We get no type of respect, man. And that's fine,"
he said. "There's nothing better than going out and proving people wrong."
"This is a real test. This is smash-mouth football,"
senior receiver Deon Butler said. "I think everybody's getting this idea that "
we're getting to be a real finesse team, so this is a test to see if we can flat-out line up and play football. It's going to be a test to see how tough we actually are, not to get too cute and fancy."
As always, the Badgers bring the lumber on defense, especially those heavy hitters in the secondary and linebackers. And, of course, they pound away on offense, too, behind the 1-2 wrecking ball combo of tailbacks P.J. Hill and John Clay.
This isn't fancy, and it never really is amidst the bedlam of Camp Randall Stadium.
But this meeting also has quite a different feel from Penn State's previous two trips to Madison.
First, consider the Badgers.
Though ranked in the top 10 early, they melted at the end, losing to Michigan. Then they did the unthinkable last weekend: They coughed up a late lead -- at home -- to Ohio State.
Suddenly, this team with the shaky quarterback and the questionable late-game psyche is staring at an unfathomable 0-3 start to the Big Ten season.
A bit desperate?
Coach Bret Bielema, in the middle of a rough patch after breezing through his first year in 2006, has tightened ranks, not allowing any of his players to speak to reporters this week.
Meanwhile, the Lions appear more than willing to take on a hostile road challenge. And they appear loose enough to do it well -- a welcome change from the conservative, nervous, too-tight-to-win efforts in recent big road venues.
For example, standout guard Rich Ohrnberger, known as a practical joker, switched places with center A.Q. Shipley on a Wednesday teleconference, unbeknownst to anyone else. He easily answered all questions, never revealing his identity, fooling most every beat reporter on the phone.
But will he and his teammates, especially on offense, be allowed to play loose and free on Saturday night?
Will they pull it off even if their coaches let them?
Most of them weren't around for the 2004 game, when QB Zack Mills was knocked out of action early, and backup Michael Robinson was concussed, sending him to the hospital.
Two years ago coach Joe Paterno suffered a broken leg when tight end Andrew Quarless and Wisconsin linebacker DeAndre Levy rolled into him on the sidelines.
Mostly, the Penn State players remember the atmosphere.
"Just them heckling us on the sideline,"
Butler said about the crowd. "It was good fun, but it was kind of annoying. Every time you come to the sideline their fans are right there, cracking jokes when you're trying to listen to what you're supposed to be doing on the next series. But in the end it's all good fun."
For a change, the 6-0 Nittany Lions appear to have too much to prove to be too tight.
And that begins with Clark and resonates out to those experienced (and off-center) linemen, to those senior receivers and to selected members of the defensive line and secondary.
It's a feeling that certainly hasn't been around this team much in Madison in quite a while.
