Without Star Power, No. 19 Wisconsin Falls to No. 20 Penn State

Lee Evans’ absence finally caught up with Wisconsin, on the day he’d hoped to return to the Badgers’ lineup.

Zack Mills guided Penn State on seven scoring drives, Robbie Gould kicked four field goals and Jimmy Kennedy had four sacks, and the 20th-ranked Nittany Lions beat the 19th-ranked Badgers, 34-31, Saturday at Madison, Wis.

Larry Johnson had 171 all-purpose yards for Penn State (4-1, 1-1 Big Ten) before leaving with a hamstring injury in the second half.

The Badgers (5-1, 0-1) were hoping to have Evans--their star playmaker--back for their first conference game. But the Big Ten’s leading receiver in 2001 was on the sideline in shorts. He injured his left knee in a spring game April 20.

Trailing, 28-23, with 11:24 left, the Badgers got the ball at the Penn State 47, their best field position in the game. But Darren Charles had his second drop of the game, then Jonathan Orr let a pass from Brooks Bollinger bounce off his chest at the 25 on third down.

Then Gould kicked field goals of 51 and 40 yards, giving the Nittany Lions an 11-point lead with 2:55 left. The Badgers pulled to within 34-31 with 1:17 left, as Bollinger hit Orr for a 28-yard touchdown and Dwayne Smith ran in the two-point conversion. But Penn State linebacker LaMar Stewart recovered the onside kick and the Nittany Lions ran out the clock.

No. 24 Iowa 31, Purdue 28--Brad Banks engineered an 87-yard scoring drive with 2:16 remaining and no timeouts, capped by a seven-yard touchdown pass to Dallas Clark on fourth and goal to lead the Hawkeyes at Iowa City, Iowa.

The winning drive was the most consistent offensive effort for Iowa (5-1, 2-0), which was outplayed by Purdue (3-3, 1-1) for much of the game. Iowa needed two special teams touchdowns and a 95-yard touchdown pass from Banks to Clark just to have a chance to win at the end.

Purdue reserve quarterback Brandon Kirsch took the Boilermakers on their final possession to the Iowa 25 before his pass was deflected, then intercepted by Adolphus Shelton.