STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Playing before a hostile crowd of 109,754, the last thing Wisconsin could afford was turnovers.

Entering the game, the Badgers were minus-5 in the turnover game, and minus-6 in the previous three games. They added to their woes with three more turnovers — two picks and a lost fumble — and just one recovery leaving them at minus-7 this season.

"You can't come out with a clean victory with that many turnovers," right tackle Eric Vanden Heuvel said.

Running back P.J. Hill was stripped cleanly on the first play of the game on Wisconsin's 12-yard line to set up a situation where the defense was put in a tough situation right away.

The second error probably shouldn't have happened, according to UW head coach Bret Bielema, as freshman wide receiver David Gilreath let a catchable ball get up on him.

"Obviously it was a good pass and the ball bounced out of David's hands and (Lydell Sargeant) was able to grab it," UW head coach Bret Bielema said. "It sort of epitomized the day for us the way the ball bounced. It got worse as the day got on."

The third and final turnover occurred because a quixotic Donovan tried to fit a ball in between the cornerback and safety to tight end Travis Beckum.

All of them came at critical points in the first half when the Badgers were still in the game.

"In games like this [those turnovers] hurt," quarterback Tyler Donovan said. "It put us back momentum-wise, giving them momentum on defense, which is something that we did not want to do today."

Sacked

There's something about Penn State's defense getting to the Wisconsin quarterback when the two teams battle in Happy Valley.

The last time Wisconsin played at Beaver Stadium, quarterback John Stocco had no breathing room, getting sacked nine times. The Nittany Lions were back at it again Saturday sacking current Badger signal caller Tyler Donovan five times.

The crowd had quite a bit to do with it.

"When you have 109,000 people all screaming, it's definitely going to impact you," Vanden Heuvel said. "Early on we were having trouble just hearing the cadence — me and Gabe (Carimi), with the tackles being so far away from the ball we were having troubles when (Tyler Donovan) would switch or run an audible play. In turn, we were late off the ball which caused some extra pressure, but also it was hard to communicate."

The receivers' inability to get open, or get to areas where Donovan could see them also was a factor.

But most of all, the UW offensive line had a difficult time figuring out where the blitzes were coming from.

"There was a couple more angles, couple more pressure situations — they were coming with a lot of angles," Vanden Heuvel said. "It was a lot more than we practiced for."

Langford switched out

Reminiscent of Brett Bell a la 2005 UW, cornerback Allen Langford got burned.

Even with Langford playing 10 to 15 yards off the line of scrimmage on first down from the UW 29-yard line early in the second quarter, PSU wide receiver Deon Butler ran right past him on a post corner to the back of the end zone giving the Nittany Lions a 17-7 lead. From there, the Nittany Lions went after Langford just about anytime he was alone on the coverage.

"They were definitely going after him," Bielema said.

One particular play stood out to Bielema that provoked him to sub out Langford in favor of freshman Aaron Henry.

On second-and-10 from Wisconsin's 13-yard line early in the third quarter Penn State quarterback Anthony Morelli threw a fade pass to the corner of the end zone. Langford made no effort to make the catch, choosing to hold instead.

"The thing I got frustrated on that one was it was pass interference all the way, he was pushing the guy, and had given up on that play," Bielema said. "He should be able to run with that guy and I don't know what caused him to do that.

"All I saw was the end of the play and I that's when I said, ‘We might want to give Aaron a shot' and that's what we did."

Jefferson bright spot when others quit, struggled

When nothing else was doing for Wisconsin on either side of the ball, and players around him seemingly giving up on the game, Kyle Jefferson came through with a career day.

The freshman wideout eclipsed 100 yards receiving for the first time in his young career, snaring six balls for 124 yards.

His best performance with Wisconsin was bittersweet, however, since the team didn't pull through with a victory.

"I guess I did a good job but in my eyes it wasn't good enough," Jefferson said.

Needing to step into and fulfill the role as No. 1 receiver with injuries to Luke Swan and Paul Hubbard, Jefferson handled himself very well.

"Kyle had a great game," Vanden Heuvel said. "He had a couple big catches and … is coming into that role as top receiver even as a freshman."