[media-credit name=’Derek Montgomery’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]For religious reasons, Matt Bernstein almost missed Saturday’s game. The Badgers are certainly glad he decided to play.

On Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, Bernstein fasted for 24 hours in accordance with Jewish tradition. His fast ended minutes before kickoff.

If the game had started at 11:00, Bernstein would not have played. Fortunately, the late starting time allowed him to fulfill his religious obligation and turn in the strongest performance of his collegiate career.

After carrying the torah at his synagogue’s morning service, Bernstein arrived at Camp Randall expecting to fill his usual role as a blocking fullback. For the first half, he did just that.

But after tailbacks Booker Stanley and Jamil Walker left the game due to injury, Bernstein moved to tailback for the second half. The 6-foot-2, 270 pound junior made an immediate impact, single-handedly leading a 73-yard scoring drive to open the half. On 11 carries, Bernstein gained 63 yards on the drive, dazzling the sell-out crowd at Camp Randall.

“We told Bernie (Matt Bernstein) at half that we were going to play him and I thought he really brought a lot of personality and punch to the offense,” head coach Barry Alvarez said. “With the type of game it was, we really rode him.”

Bernstein finished with 123 yards on 27 carries, setting career highs in both categories. 120 of his 123 yards came in the second half.

Before Saturday’s game, Bernstein had never rushed for more than 29 yards in a game and he had never been given more than six carries. He gained more yards Saturday in a single game than he had gained in his most productive season. Prior to his remarkable second-half performance against Penn State, Bernstein’s top rushing campaign was 120 yards in 2003.

‘Raz dazzles in win

Though less dramatic and less surprising than Bernstein’s heroics, the performance of Erasmus James was no less impressive. As he has done all season, James established himself as a force from the opening possession, in which he knocked starting quarterback Zack Mills out of the game with a pair of brutal hits.

“You don’t have to know his number, if you turn it on you find the great players and all the sudden they just jump out at you,” Alvarez said. “You saw No. 90 all over the place. He was very effective today.”

After a powerful sack on Mills’ replacement, Michael Robinson, James had injured two quarterbacks in one quarter. It’s hard to imagine a more intimidating performance.

“Erasmus (James) is just one of those guys where you don’t ever want to have a one-on-one tackle when you’re not looking.” Defensive coordinator Bret Bielema said.

James finished with five tackles, two sacks and a fumble recovery in another spectacular showing. The talented defensive end currently leads the Badgers with five sacks in four games.

“He’s one of those guys that just keeps coming and keeps coming. He’s got great intensity on the sidelines,” Bielema said. “He’s just focused on what he wants to do and it’s very important for him to have success and that’s exactly what he’s doing.”

Allen bounces back

After connecting on just three of six field goal attempts for the year and missing an extra point that could have cost his team the game in Arizona, senior placekicker Mike Allen was in the midst of the worst season of his career heading into Saturday’s game. However, the embattled kicker never questioned his ability.

“There’s never been a problem with my confidence and there never will be,” Allen said.

With a solid performance against Penn State, Allen may have righted the ship in the Big Ten opener. Allen was flawless, knocking down 3-3 field goal attempts in the victory.

After the Badgers jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, it was all Allen the rest of the way. The resilient senior recorded nine points on the day, hitting from 39, 38 and 26 in his best game of the young season.

“It just felt good to finally make some.” Allen said.