College GameDay crew breaks down Penn State-Wisconsin showdown

Wisconsin hosts Penn State in a Week 1 B1G matchup. The College GameDay crew offered their thoughts on the conference clash.

Kirk Herbstreit is highly impressed with Wisconsin’s defense.

Wisconsin’s defense with Jim Leonhard, one of the best defensive coordinators, I think, in college football. I think it goes back to Paul Chryst when he first got there. I went back and looked. 75 games that he’s been the head coach in Madison. They’ve given an average per game up of 16 points per game. Now a lot of that has to do with possessing the ball, keeping offenses on the sideline. But Jim Leonhard is a tough ask for Mike Yurcich, the offensive coordinator at Penn State. Third OC in three years. I think Sean Clifford’s the beneficiary because he’s got a lot of weapons around him. Jahan Dotson on the outside. Noah Cain is back. John Lovett comes over from Baylor. They’ve got some dudes that can play around the quarterback spot.

Lee Corso agrees that Wisconsin will be dominant defensively.

Any time you talk about Wisconsin, you’ve got to talk defense. Over the last five years, Wisconsin has ranked in the top 10 in all major categories on defense. They’ve got eight starters coming back this year and [the Badgers] will be a factor throughout the season because of defense.

Desmond Howard meanwhile believes the Wisconsin offense will need to be strong in the running back to be successful this season.

When I think of Wisconsin’s offense, I always think of running backs. They have a great running tradition up there in Madison. But don’t forget a year ago, when Graham Mertz started off, he was 2-0, 7 touchdowns, no interceptions, throwing the ball all over the field. But then they got away from that. That’s not their identity. I think they’re going to go far in the Big Ten, they have to establish the run … They want to control the tempo, control the clock and then let the run set up the play action pass. To me, that’s their DNA.”

David Pollack believes the key for both Wisconsin and Penn State will be at quarterback.

Both these teams, I’m very curious to see at the quarterback spot. I feel like both of them can have great seasons. Graham Mertz, a year ago, came out on fire. 17 completions in a row, it looked like ‘Wisconsin, oh my God, here we come’ … But the quarterback spot determines for both these teams how far they go, and both of them have been very up-and-down and lacked consistency.

Penn State is coming off a 4-5 record in the shortened 2020 campaign, which was the first losing season for the program since 2004. Wisconsin posted a 4-3 record last season. Penn State holds a 10-9 edge in the all-time series and is on a four-game winning streak vs. Wisconsin.

Rolando Rosa

Rolando Rosa brings his experience covering college football to Saturday Tradition. Follow him on Twitter @RolandoRosa3.