Message Games—

“Message Games” are not statement games, per se, but a friendly reminder to the other team (typically a rival) that Penn State is still a real problem for you… “Penn State still lives rent-free in your head”… Occasionally, the message can’t be sent as quickly as one might prefer… And sometimes it can be sent almost immediately… Such was the case with the 2012 and 2013 games against Wisconsin, arguably the most important games of the Bill O’Brien era… One could also argue that these were the season-ending bowl games of the bowl-ban era under the Sandusky sanctions…

2013 at Wisconsin—2012 was not a fluke

Nov. 30, 2013 at Camp Randall… It would be the last game of the brief “O’Brien’s Lions” era at Penn State… It was, in effect, the bowl trip that Bill deserved but, never got… The game that boldly informed Badgers fans that the 2012 overtime win in State College was not just some emotional Mike Mauti injury tribute… Wisconsin thought their 24-21 loss at PSU was a fluke, and they said so… The 5-loss Badgers had been exposed as unworthy of their 2012 Big Ten Championship and Rose Bowl berths after finishing behind both ineligible Penn State and ineligible Ohio State in the Big Ten Leaders Division… It gnawed at them… They said we couldn’t do it at Camp Randall, but then we did it… Not a beat down… But, it was a solid 31-24 victory over the 14th ranked Badgers that slammed the door on the slim hopes they might still have harbored for a major bowl or a BCS berth…

Despite the win in 2012, State was a 24-point underdog at Wisconsin in ‘13… PSU needed to send a message and the first sentence was delivered on the fourth play of the game… Christian Hackenberg opens the scoring with a big play… Hack rolls right… True Freshman Tight End Adam Breneman is open behind three Wiscy defenders… Hack hits the target… Breneman turns and makes a dash to the endzone, shedding a diving tackle attempt for a 68 yard TD… (It was the first of Hack’s 4 TD passes on 21 of 30 passing for 339 yards on the day)…

This game also featured the infamous “Lonesome End” TD pass to Geno Lewis… PSU trails 14-7 late in the 2nd quarter… The clock is running with 1:20 to go… State is 2nd and goal at the Wisconsin 3-yard line… The Nittany Lions are in an I-formation behind Hack… Wiscy is definitely looking for the run, since absolutely no one noticed Geno Lewis split out to the far left by about 12 yards… Geno’s all alone with absolutely nobody near him… All 11 Badgers were up at the line of scrimmage… A Wisconsin coach desperately races down the field trying to call timeout, but he’s not acknowledged by the refs and the play starts… Hack sees lonesome Geno waving and hits him right on the money for the short walk into the endzone to tie the game at 14… it was the first of Geno’s 2 TD catches on the day (the other was a 59-yarder early in the 4th to make it 31-14 PSU)… The TD caps a 7 play 71-yard drive… Wiscy never leads again…

Zack Zwinak rushed 22 times for 115 yards in this one including a 61-yard run which was one of four PSU plays of 52 yards or longer in the game… A missed PSU field goal with 31 seconds left did give the Badgers a little hope, but Ryan Keiser intercepts Joel Stave’s Hail Mary attempt from the Penn State 41-yard line in the endzone with 1 second to go in the game…    

The 31-24 road win clinches a second winning season for Bill O’Brien at 7-5 (4-4 in the Big Ten) and most importantly, a message was clearly sent… A message that was felt again in the 2016 Big Ten Championship Game, and again in the 2021 season opener at Camp Randall…

For Other Message & Statement Game Stories—CLICK HERE

2023 vs. Iowa—The Whiteout Shutout

1995 at Iowa—Hawkeyes on the menu

1975 at Pitt—Not here, not now