Badgers Fall to Nittany Lions 34-31
October 05, 2002 | Football
Badger quarterback Brooks Bollinger rushed for one touchdown and passed for two more against No. 21 Penn State Saturday, but No. 19 Wisconsin's fourth quarter rally ran out of time as the Badgers fell to the Nittany Lions 34-31 at Camp Randall Stadium in UW's Big Ten opener. With today's performance, Bollinger became just the seventh player in Big Ten history to rush for at least 20 career TDs and pass for at least 30.
'I didn't feel as though we played particularly well on either side of the ball today,' Wisconsin head coach Barry Alvarez said. 'We made a lot of mistakes. When you make mistakes, it's hard to win.
'But give Penn State credit, they're a very good team. They've got a lot of good weapons on offense.'
Penn State quarterback Zack Mills led the Nittany Lions on seven scoring drives including his own one-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, while teammate Robbie Gould kicked four field goals to maintain Penn State's lead throughout the game.
PSU opened up the scoring at 11:06 in the first quarter off Gould 's first field goal from 33 yards out and increased their early lead after Mills ' touchdown run at 1:47 to 10-0 entering the second quarter.
Bollinger brought the Badgers back into the game on his own five-yard scoring run after leading Wisconsin down the field on a nine play, 80-yard drive to make it a 10-7 game. Gould completed a second field goal at 8:25 in the second quarter and then Badger cornerback B.J. Tucker ignited the Badgers when he picked off a Mills pass and returned it 65 yards for the score with 4:33 left in the quarter. It was Tucker's fourth career interception, all of which have come in the last three games, and was the first interception return for a Wisconsin touchdown since Mike Echols' 56-yard return against Minnesota on Nov. 4, 2000.
Wisconsin's 14-13 lead didn't last long though, as PSU's Larry Johnson helped the Nittany Lions gain their advantage back on a 24-yard touchdown run and the ensuing two-point conversion at 3:12 in the second quarter.
Penn State took a 21-14 lead to enter the second half and would increase that lead off a touchdown run by Sean McHugh at 8:56 in the third quarter. However, Wisconsin wasn't ready to crumble just yet as Bollinger connected with wide receiver Brandon Williams on a seven-yard pass to bring Wisconsin back on the scoreboard 28-20 to move into the fourth quarter. However, a penalty after the play forced kicker Scott Campbell to attempt the extra point from a longer distance and he missed wide.
UW kicker Mike Allen brought UW within five points of Penn State after completing a 48-yard field goal at 13:05, but Gould helped his team keep the lead with two more PSU field goals to round out the game.
Down 34-23, Wisconsin wide receiver Jonathan Orr hauled in a 28-yard touchdown pass from Bollinger with one minute left on the clock to put the game back into reach for the Badgers. UW freshman Dwayne Smith ran in the two-point conversion for UW to make it a 34-31 game, but Penn State recovered the ensuing onsides kick and wound down the clock on Wisconsin to end the game.
Orr's 62 receiving yards today give him 459 for the season, the second-highest receiving yardage total ever for a Badger freshman, while Smith and Anthony Davis tallied 42 yards and 46 yards rushing a piece respectively.
Wisconsin, now 5-1 overall and 0-1 in the Big Ten, travels to Indiana next Saturday to take on the Hoosiers. Kick-off is 11:10 a.m. The Badgers return home Oct. 19 to face Ohio State in Wisconsin's Homecoming weekend.
Oct. 5, 2002
Wisconsin vs. Penn State
UW Head Coach Barry Alvarez Post-Game Quotes
Alvarez on Game: First of all, it felt like we were defeated by an excellent football team today. I didn't feel as though we played particularly well on either side of the ball. Made a lot of mistakes. When you make mistakes, it's hard to win. Their first drive was indicative of how we played in the game. We had them stopped in a third down conversion and we line up offsides. We allow them to have the ball back and they go down and get three points. But give Penn State credit, I thought they came in'they're a very good team. As I said before hand, they've got a lot of good weapons on offense. Mills I thought was excellent today, very mobile and created a lot of things.
How close was Lee to playing today' That decision is made yesterday or today'he practices, he takes a day off. At the end of the week if it's sore or swollen, he's not going to play. If he feels good he's going to play, I can't tell you anymore. The way he practiced on Tuesday I thought he was going to play, but he had some soreness and it didn't go away when he practiced again on Thursday and it didn't clear up the way we wanted it to and he didn't feel comfortable with it so that was it.
On the defense: 'We couldn't slow them down in the first half, we made some adjustments at the half, I felt we played better. But I didn't think we played particularly well. We missed a lot of tackles. We were very soft because of our alignment in the first half. We made that adjustment and it gave us a better chance in the second half, but I don't think we played well at all.
Momentum shift after two dropped passes on the late drive: 'I really thought we were in good shape right there'if I 'm not mistaken it was second and eight and we dropped two balls. We had all the momentum. If we were going to have a chance to win the football game, that's when we had to do it. We've been making those plays. That's what it comes down to; you have to make plays particularly at crunch time. That was huge.
Oct. 5, 2002
Wisconsin vs. Penn State
Penn State Head Coach Joe Paterno Post-Game Quotes
The difference from last week's game to today's game: 'I thought last week's second half was good because I thought they needed to get out of being in a tough situation and play well. Obviously we just come in and get better. I thought today was a maturing process for them because the game was back and fourth, and they had to hang on at the end.'
The status of Larry Johnson: 'He pulled his hamstring; I don't think it is real serious, if it is he might be out for the whole year. But he did a nice job for us in there [and there] is always the possibility if something happens to Larry (Johnson) we have some of these young kids at fullback and put them in at running back. I think Larry will be ok.'
On Zack Mills' play: 'Although hurt by the shoulder he is a tough kid, he's got a lot of poise and he is a smart guy. He's a good football player.'
On the play of the defense: 'I thought we played well, they got one of their touchdowns on that intercepted pass, and other than that I thought we played pretty good.'
On being down 14-13 early and coming back: 'Well, I'm starting to think that they feel they can get it done. I think they are starting to understand it and all the games we play from now on will be up and down, back and forth. I mean you got to play and we'll be in it and some place down the line someone has to make something happen.'
October 5, 2002
Wisconsin vs. Penn State
Wisconsin Player Post-Game Quotes
Sophomore corner back Scott Starks on the Badger loss: I think we started off slow all around. My main focus is the defense because that's what I play. We didn't really play the way we practiced this week and the results showed. We're just going to have to rebuild from where we 're at now.
Starks on the Penn State skill players: I'm not taking anything away from their athletes because they had some pretty good athletes on their team. They did a good job. They came out and played to the best of their abilities and we didn't play to the best of our abilities.
Starks on the two-week layoff: I really don 't know what it was. They started fast and we had a slow start. They had a 10-0 lead in the beginning and we could never get the lead back. We never did get the lead back. We had two good weeks of preparation so we should have been sharp coming in and we didn 't play like we practiced.
Senior cornerback B.J. Tucker on what the loss means for the season: I know we didn't play well but a lot of our goals are still ahead of us. We feel that we can come back next weekend and just take it a game at a time. We still got a lot to accomplish.
Tucker on the Penn State receivers: They were good as any receivers we've seen plus they were big and physical. We just had to play the ball. We came in thinking they were going to run and they threw the ball a lot more than they ran.
Tucker on his interception: It was just a cover too. The receiver who was out there did like a little inside and I had to save him from my area. I don't think the quarterback saw me or he wouldn't have tried to throw one out to the flats. He threw the ball up there kind of soft and I just broke on it. I thought I was going to trip at first. After that, I didn't want to look back. I just kept running.
Sophomore safety Jim Leonard on the loss: That was definitely not the way we wanted to start. We didn't play well enough to win today and that kind of hurts. We played til the end; there was no quit in anybody. We knew this was the way the game was going to come out and we just had to play better than we did.
Leonard on what the defense needs to do to improve: We have to cut down on our mental errors; just play the next play if something goes wrong. We didn't do a very good job of that today.
Leonard on the Badgers not keeping their momentum: We got the momentum back when B.J. made a great play. It just never seemed that we could keep the momentum whatever we did. We'd make a big play then make a mistake after that.
Leonard on last week's layoff: We definitely felt we were going to play better than we did today because like you said we had two weeks to prepare and we knew what they were going to run. They just beat us today.
Badger junior defensive end Erasmus James on not getting the stops needed: We got them in third and long a couple of times and we just didn't execute. That's what hurt us in the game today.
James on Penn State quarterback Zack Mills: He knew exactly what to do. If he had to run, he ran the ball, if he had to pass, throw it away. He was really aware of what was going on, so that really helped Penn State.
James on the game being a set back: It's not a big set back at all because we played a pretty good game today, we just need to learn from our mistakes, come out next week and play even harder.
Badger freshman wide receiver Brandon Williams on the start of Big Ten play: This makes us realize we've still got improving to do. We just have to get focused on what we have to do. Know we're a young team and we've still got to step it up some more. We're not out of it, so we know we have to move forward."
Williams on the intensity level of the Big Ten: The first few games I was trying to feel my way in and got into a groove. Penn State is a Big Ten team, so they come and play every day. They hit and its physical out there. Those guys are pretty big."
Badger sophomore kicker Mike Allen on his 48-yard field goal just inside the left upright: It felt pretty good. I think it was a little further inside, but either way it doesn't matter. It went through.
On Penn State kicker Robbie Gould and his 51-yard field goal: He was amazing. That kid was great. I talked to him after the game. He's got an unbelievable leg, he's got great height, great distance and everything. I talked to him and he was a walk-on just like myself. I admire that greatly."
