Penn State vs Wisconsin Preview

Posted by Joe Chuba on 11/21 at 12:46 PM

Nittany Lion play-by-play voice Steve Jones analyses Penn State’s win over Ohio State and previews the showdown for the leaders crown.

The Penn State offense was sharp in the first half, the defense pitched a shutout in the second half and Anthony Fera was brilliant in both halves as Penn State beat Ohio State 20-14 Saturday.
The Wildcat certainly made a difference and caught Ohio State asleep at the switch.  They scored from 39 yards out the first time it was used.  Curtis Drake and Bill Belton both can run it and when it was put in Monday each had to go back to their high school days to remember the reads.  Plus, the offensive line did a great job of pulling and blocking it.  The pass game on most of the in routes looked good, but Matt McGloin can really help himself and this offense by making the pitch and catch plays.  A couple of times in pitch and catch situation he threw the ball behind Justin Brown when it could have been a big play. 
The defense did a great job in the second half by pitching a shutout.  They figured out that Braxton Miller on the option never once pitched the ball and once they came to that realization they clamped down on it.  Plus late in the game they made Miller do what he did not want to do: throw it to win it.  When he threw it they had pressure on him.  Jack Crawford had a couple of sacks.  Sean Stanley on a zone blitz made a great play in coverage and Glenn Carson may have had his best game of the season.
Anthony Fera had a great day.  Two career long field goals, deep kickoffs and precision punts.  No one did a better job than Fera did Saturday.
Wisconsin
Russell Wilson is a special talent and has taken the Wisconsin offense to places they have not been in a long time.  His accuracy is unbelievable.  He has hit 73 percent of his passes with 26 touchdowns and just three interceptions.  On third down he is 41 of 53 with 12 touchdowns.  By the way, he can run the football.  He is averaging nearly five yards per carry with five touchdowns
The touchdown machine is Montee Ball.  He only has 30…. an unreal number.  He has 25 rushing and five receiving.  Along the way he has 1,466 yards.  James White has chipped in 610 yards.
Nick Toon has been the go to guy in the pass game with 47 catches and sophomore walk on Jared Abbrederis has 41 catches. 
The Wisconsin defense has been good but of course haunted by the two late scores they gave up this season.  They shutdown Illinois when they had to on Saturday to set this game up.  Mike Taylor has had a very good year with 121 tackles including eight for losses.  Meanwhile Chris Borland has 118 tackles with 17 for losses while forcing four fumbles.  Antonio Fenelus has four interceptions this season and Aaron Henry has picked off three. 
Phillip Welch is a dependable kicker and Brad Nortman has been good knocking the ball inside the 20 yard line 15 times on 34 punts.  He has had one blocked.  Abbrederis has been outstanding on punt returns with nearly 17 yards per return.
It is a playoff game for the right to go to the first ever Big Ten championship, thus, the anticipation is tremendous. 

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