Penn St., Paterno at a Loss Again

Wisconsin defensive tackle Wendell Bryant met Penn State quarterback Matt Senneca last month at Big Ten media day in Chicago.

Bryant reintroduced himself Saturday at State College, Pa., sacking Senneca three times--he also contributed to another sack of Senneca and sacked Zack Mills once--and recovered a fumble as the Badgers defeated Penn State, 18-6, in the conference opener for both teams.

“Wendell kept coming up with big plays, harassing the quarterbacks and putting them in negative situations,” Wisconsin Coach Barry Alvarez said. “He really took this game over.”

With the loss, Penn State’s Joe Paterno remains second behind Paul “Bear” Bryant on the major college victory list at 322.

“The only thing I feel like doing right now is punching a wall. I’m angry,” Paterno said.

Wendell Bryant was almost a permanent fixture in the Penn State backfield, with all five of his first-half tackles coming behind the line of scrimmage. He finished with seven tackles and his sacks set Penn State (0-2) back 32 yards.

Wisconsin (2-2) dominated the line of scrimmage, giving up 23 rushing yards, one in the first half.

Wisconsin also controlled the line on offense, with Anthony Davis rushing for 200 yards in 37 carries. Davis didn’t score but was nearly unstoppable, beating defenders to the corner, shooting through holes in the line and powering over defenders. In four games, Davis has rushed for 614 yards.

The Badgers converted 10 of 17 third downs, but failed three times to convert on fourth down. Wisconsin did not punt and controlled the ball more than 41 minutes.

“The less you’re on the field, the fresher you are,” Bryant said. “You always can see that in a defense, when they’re tired.”

Penn State (0-2) hasn’t scored in the first half this season. The Nittany Lions were outscored, 30-0, in the first half in their opener against Miami.

No. 16 Northwestern 44, Duke 7--Damien Anderson rushed for 189 yards and tied a school record with four touchdowns as the Wildcats (2-0) won at Durham, N.C.

Northwestern scored on four of six first-half drives and had 332 total yards in building a 20-7 lead.

Duke (0-3) lost its 15th in a row, extending the nation’s longest losing streak and tying a school record set in 1995-97.

Northwestern finished with 638 total yards.

Illinois 34, No. 25 Louisville 10--Cornerback Christian Morton intercepted two passes, returning the first 33 yards for a score, in the Illini’s victory at Champaign, Ill.

Illinois (3-0) forced Louisville (3-1) into five turnovers, repeatedly pressuring Dave Ragone into making poor throws. The quarterback was sacked three times and completed 22 of 39 passes for 309 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions.

The Illini outgained Louisville, 504-338, with 203 yards coming on the ground for the team’s best rushing performance this season.

Purdue 33, Akron 14--Brandon Hance threw touchdown passes to John Standeford and Joey Harris had a 58-yard scoring run as the Boilermakers (2-0) won at West Lafayette, Ind.

Hance was 21 of 37 for 252 yards with two interceptions.

The Zips (1-2) had 115 yards of total offense in the first quarter, but Purdue’s defense contained them after that. The Zips had only 37 yards in the third quarter.

Utah 28, Indiana 26-Lance Rice threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes, rallying the Utes (2-1) to victory at Bloomington, Ind., before the Hoosiers’ smallest home crowd since 1995.

Indiana (0-2), playing before only 26,591, got within 28-26 on Antwaan Randle El’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Glenn Johnson with 3:35 remaining. It appeared the Hoosiers had tied the score when Randle El completed a conversion pass to Levron Williams, but the Hoosiers were called for illegal procedure. On the next play, Randle El scrambled, but was pushed out of bounds near the one-yard line.