No. 3 Penn State has one more challenge to overcome before it can head into next weekend’s matchup with No. 4 Ohio State with an undefeated record.
This challenge seems tougher now than it did a few weeks ago.
Wisconsin (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) lost two games in a row to No. 15 Alabama and Southern California last month, but they have since dominated Purdue, Rutgers, and Northwestern, winning by a total score of 117-16.
Wisconsin has a chance to defeat a Top 25 team for the first time in coach Luke Fickell’s two years when Penn State comes to Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday.
“They’re really coming on right now, just watching them on tape, how clean they’re playing, how hard they’re playing,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “It’s impressive to watch.”
Penn State (6-0, 3-0) still has reasons to be confident.
The Nittany Lions had two weeks to get ready for this game after passing a big test on the road on October 12, when they came back to win 33-30 against Southern California in overtime. Penn State has also won its last five games against Wisconsin and hasn’t lost to the Badgers since 2011.
Wisconsin has struggled against Top 25 teams, going 2-13 in its last 15 games, and is 0-4 under Fickell. The Badgers haven’t beaten a top-10 team since they won 31-18 against No. 1 Ohio State in 2010.
“This is what you come to Wisconsin for – to play at Camp Randall at night against a big-time opponent,” Wisconsin quarterback Braedyn Locke said. “It doesn’t get any better than that. We’ve talked a lot about kind of having everything that we want in front of us. This is part of the climb.”
