It was a bleak start to the second half in Penn State football’s 28-13 comeback win over Wisconsin.

The Badgers drove 73 yards down the field in 12 plays to score the go-ahead touchdown at the end of the first half and defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton was injured on the drive. Penn State got the ball back with 1:23 left in the first half, then quarterback Drew Allar went down.

Wisconsin headed into the locker room with a 10-7 lead, and after halftime, Allar didn’t take the field on the opening drive and never returned to the game. On Penn State’s first defensive play of the second half, Dennis-Sutton stopped Wisconsin running back Tawee Walker for no gain. Dennis-Sutton then jogged off the field and never returned to the game.

The Nittany Lions were forced to punt on the first two possessions of the second half, and Penn State looked dead in the water, but the defense was sound and forced the Badgers to do the same.

Of Wisconsin’s first two drives after halftime, the offense had zero total yards and gave up a pick-six to safety Jaylen Reed.

“I was reading the quarterback’s eyes, broke on the ball, and just made the play,” Reed said. “When I caught the ball, I knew I was going for a touchdown.”

It was the senior’s first touchdown of his Penn State career, and Reed said it was something he hadn’t done since his senior year of high school. To commemorate the milestone moment, he gave the ball to his mom in the stands. Unfortunately, he was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct, and the ball was taken away from his mom.

However, Reed said he got the ball back after the game but declined to comment on how exactly he got it back.

“I can’t talk about that,” Reed joked. “But I got it back.”

Reed’s interception changed the game. A drive later, Wisconsin kicked a field goal. Those were the last points of the game for the home team.

“It changed the whole morale of the team,” linebacker Dom DeLuca said. “We all got excited. Reed made a huge play that we needed desperately, and it really helped us a lot and brought us all together.”

The Badgers totaled 122 yards, along with the three points, in the second half after allowing 176 yards and 10 points. Walker and the running backs averaged 194 yards per game before Saturday night’s contest.

Excluding punter Atticus Bertrams’ 15-yard run on the first drive of the game and wide receiver Will Pauling’s four-yard rush in the second quarter, the running backs had just 66 yards and a touchdown.

“Our big emphasis today was just to stop the run,” DeLuca said. “They have a great run game. Keeping them under 100 yards was huge for us.”

As for Badgers’ quarterback Braedyn Locke, he completed 52% of his passes for 217 yards, no touchdowns, and an interception. Although Wisconsin came into this game on a three-game winning streak of only blowout wins, Locke had five passing touchdowns and four interceptions.

“He’s pretty loose with the ball,” Reed said.

“We already knew at some point it’s going to happen,” safety Zakee Wheatley said. “We’ve got a crazy defensive line. They’re going to get pressure and at some point, it’s football, the ball is going to be in the area. We’ve got the dogs to get the ball.”

This defense performance has been quite common for Penn State. In every game, except against USC, the defense has taken over games and disrupted opposing offenses in the second half and especially in the third quarter.

“I think we’re just resilient,” Wheatley said. “I know when it comes to the defense, we know what we’ve got to do and we hold ourselves to that standard.”

“Just a gutsy win,” James Franklin said after the game. “You lose your starting quarterback, you lose your starting defensive end, you lose your starting offensive tackle. Next man up. No excuses.”

The defense faces its toughest challenge of the season next week against Ohio State. A win could almost solidify the Nittany Lions’ spot in the Big Ten Championship, the College Football Playoff, and even maybe as the No. 1 team in the nation.

“We got to get healthy, got to get our minds right, and we’ve got to get to it,” Reed said.