[media-credit name=’Derek Montgomery’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Playing before a record crowd of 82,179, the Badgers (4-0, 1-0) opened the Big Ten season with a 16-3 victory over Penn State (2-2, 0-1) Saturday.

“It means a lot to start the Big Ten out 1-0,” senior free safety Jim Leonhard said. “These type of games right here is why all of us came here. We didn’t come here to play Arizona and Central Florida; we came to play the Penn States, the Ohio States.”

Penn State came out firing. On the first play from scrimmage, quarterback Zack Mills connected with Michael Robinson for a 49-yard pass. However, on the very next play, Mills turned the ball over for the 11th time in three games, as cornerback Bret Bell came up with the first interception of his collegiate career.

“They came out, they throw a big pass right off the bat; early on they had the momentum,” head coach Barry Alvarez said. “We take it away with an interception.”

Early in the first quarter, Mills left the game with a separated shoulder after receiving a pair of crushing blows from defensive end Erasmus James, who hit the quarterback as he threw on both plays of the opening possession.

After beginning the game on the receiving end of a long completion, Robinson moved to quarterback for the Nittany Lions’ second possession. The versatile junior was welcomed by linebacker Mark Zalewski, who sacked Robinson on third down to end the drive.

On the ensuing Wisconsin possession, tailback Booker Stanley fumbled, giving Penn State the ball on the UW 30-yard line. The heralded Badger defense answered its first real challenge of the game, keeping the Nittany Lions from advancing the ball and forcing a punt after a holding penalty moved the ball back to the 35.

On Penn State’s next possession, the Badgers forced a turnover of their own as safety Robert Brooks knocked the ball from the hands of Penn State tailback Tony Hunt. James, who was everywhere in the first quarter, recovered the fumble on the Penn State 44-yard line.

“Our guys kept taking swipes at the ball and we knew those big hits were going to come and it’s just one of those things that we knew was going to happen and it finally did,” defensive coordinator Bret Bielema said.

Wisconsin capitalized on the Penn State turnover, as quarterback John Stocco led an eight-play, 44-yard scoring drive to give the Badgers an early 7-0 lead. Faced with a third down and 12 from the 31-yard line, Stocco found wide-out Brandon Williams for a 17-yard completion to move the ball inside the red zone.

After a pair of runs from Booker Stanley, Stocco used an impressive open-field cut to score on a five-yard bootleg. Stocco’s touchdown run ended Wisconsin’s first-half scoring drought, as the Badger offense found the end zone before the fourth quarter for the first time in three weeks.

On the following possession, James knocked Robinson out of the game with a big hit on a sack. Robinson left the game in an ambulance and was treated for a concussion at the University of Wisconsin hospital.

“I really hope that Robinson’s OK,” Alvarez said. “You certainly don’t like to see that happen to any player; I hope he’s able to bounce back. He’s an excellent athlete. He would have been difficult to defend.”

With 1:43 remaining in the first quarter, Penn State was forced to turn to its third-string quarterback, junior Chris Ganter.

Midway through the second quarter, the Badgers took over on their own 43-yard line. Stocco moved the chains with a seven-yard pass to Jonathan Orr and a 17-yard strike to Brandon White to move into Penn State territory. Fullback Matt Bernstein moved the Badgers into the red zone with a three-yard run to set up a 39-yard field goal for senior placekicker Mike Allen, giving Wisconsin a 10-0 advantage.

On the ensuing possession, Jim Leonhard collected an errant pass from Ganter for his first interception of the year and returned it 25 yards to the Penn State 25-yard line.

“It was great,” Leonhard said of the interception. “A big weight lifted off. You don’t have to force anything anymore. You just let the game come to you and good things happen, and that’s what happened today.”

After a penalty moved the ball to the 34-yard line, Stocco connected with tight end Owen Daniels for 14 yards to set up another long kick for Allen. The embattled kicker, who had converted just three of six field goal attempts heading into Saturday’s game, came through from 38 yards out to send the Badgers into the half with a 13-0 lead.

The second half belonged to Bernstein. After Stanley left the game with turf toe and Jamil Walker was sidelined with a shoulder injury, offensive coordinator Brian White decided to move Bernstein to tailback.

After fasting for 24 hours prior to the start of the game in accordance with Jewish tradition for the Yom Kippur holiday, Bernstein rushed for a career-high 123 yards on 27 carries (4.6 yards per carry).

On the first drive of the second half, Bernstein carried the ball 11 times for 63 yards to lead a 73-yard scoring drive. Bernstein’s heroics set up a 26-yard field goal for Allen that gave the Badgers a commanding 16-0 lead.

Faced with its largest deficit of the game, Penn State answered with a 12-play 74-yard scoring drive. A string of completions from Ganter and a 24-yard run from Hunt gave the Nittany Lions a first and goal opportunity from the five-yard line.

But the Badger defense refused to allow a touchdown, stonewalling the Nittany Lions’ charge with an effective goal line stand. Leonhard came up with a key pass deflection in the end zone and linebacker Reggie Cribbs dropped Hunt for a two-yard loss to force a Robbie Gould field goal.

“Our guys don’t want to give up a touchdown,” Alvarez said. “They really battled. I thought they really fought hard to keep them out of the end zone, and that’s huge. You always talk about: a defense wants to give up threes; you don’t want to give up sevens.”

The goal line stand gave the Badgers their most prolific defensive performance against a Big Ten opponent since 1999, when Wisconsin blanked Indiana 59-0. For the first time since the 1951 campaign, Wisconsin has held four consecutive opponents to seven points or fewer.

After Penn State converted just one of 13 third down attempts, the Badgers have allowed a first down on just four of the last 37 third down plays they have faced. Still, Bielema’s unit is not satisfied.

“Right now, we wouldn’t even say we’re a good defense, we’re a solid defense but we have a lot of improvements to make,” senior cornerback Scott Starks said. “They scored three points, so evidently there’s something we need to improve on.”

While the defense turned in another dominant performance, Stocco struggled in the second half. The sophomore signal-caller threw a pair of interceptions in the fourth quarter and finished with 150 yards passing, completing 12 of 29 attempts.

“I got to play a lot better is the bottom line, but I know I will,” Stocco said. “I’m not playing my best football right now and we’re still winning games. The offensive line and everybody is doing a great job, the defense, but I definitely need to get better and I know I will.”