Different coaches dance around different issues in different ways.

Penn State head coach Joe Paterno lamented his team's bye week before Nebraska because the Nittany Lions hadn't had enough game experience.

That game ended in a 40-7 Penn State win.

Wisconsin head coach Barry Alvarez is concerned about his team losing sharpness in its bye week prior to this Saturday's home game against Penn State.

"Well, I think I was worried about that, when you have a rhythm," Alvarez said. "I thought we played well the last game."

That game was a 31-10 victory over Arizona that followed a scary game in which the Badgers barely edged out Northern Illinois, needing a Brooks Bollinger touchdown late in the game for a 24-21 win.

That same Northern Illinois team lost to Western Illinois a week later.

Alvarez probably saw his team's solid play against Arizona as a turning point and the building of some momentum. He has downplayed the fact that a bye week may have stalled his team's growth.

"I think historically we have played pretty well after a bye week," he said. "We have always judged what our players needed, whether it be time off or more work on fundamentals. We have been able to adjust accordingly and I think this year we needed a combination of both."

The Badgers used the time to heal minor injuries, including what Alvarez called "strains" for both kickers and "tweaks" in several other players.

Penn State made its bye week beneficial by learning to read the Cornhuskers' game plan.

The Lions were always ahead of the Nebraska players and jumped to an easy win.

Iowa turned the same trick on what was hailed as an innovative Penn State offense last Saturday. Alvarez coached with Kirk Ferentz when they were assistants for Iowa in the 80s, and their teams have similar strengths.

One matchup Alvarez is likely to key on is the battle in the trenches. The Hawkeyes made both Penn State's offensive and defensive lines look confused by using zone blocking schemes and multiple lane blitzes.

Shades of '94?

The Badgers didn't play the Lions when they went undefeated in 1994, but Alvarez said that squad was probably "[Penn State's] best team."

He also thinks this year's group compares favorably.

"I think as you look at their talent, all of their skilled players are excellent, strapping guys," he said.

Alvarez probably knows this team better than the '94 one because he recruited many of the same players.

In '94, Penn State was in its second season in the Big Ten, and had not made a major dent in the Midwestern recruiting scene. Also, Wisconsin had not moved into the Eastern part of the country, which it did later because of the attention Penn State brought to the conference in those parts.

"We see a lot of those kids in recruiting and we know what type of athletes they are and they are very talented," he said. "We did not play the 1994 team, but from watching them on tape, I could compare them."

This and that

Alvarez said at Big Ten Media day that star wide receiver Lee Evans, who set the conference record for receiving yards in a single season last year, would be over his knee injury in time for the Badgers' Big Ten opener with Penn State. He even insinuated an earlier return was possible. But Evans has not played yet, and Alvarez has been mum on the issue: "We will announce when Lee is going to play when he takes the field." ... Alvarez, a Pittsburgh native, wasn't a Penn State fan growing up and didn't visit the campus until he was an assistant for Iowa.