Statistics say things that get people into trouble almost as often as Geraldo Rivera.

So when a reporter asked Wisconsin football coach Barry Alvarez about his team's ability to score early and often against a Penn State pass defense formerly ranked No. 1 nationally, the disbelieving coach scoffed.

"I think the statistics are misleading," Alvarez said. "They've played against teams that have run against them an awful lot."

Slapped in the face, the Penn State pass defense couldn't respond to early scoring tosses from Wisconsin quarterback Jim Sorgi that put Penn State behind an eight-ball so big it could double as a boulder. Adequate at best, Sorgi had little trouble throwing the ball at Nittany Lions' starting cornerback Anwar Phillips.

On one pass, a 20-yard touchdown to wideout Brandon Williams, Phillips slipped as the receiver made an out cut and Williams met little resistance going into the end zone.

Perhaps the more glaring error came on Sorgi's 30-yard pass to Lee Evans, who ran inside of Phillips and gathered the game's first touchdown. With an eight-point halftime lead, Wisconsin had little reason to throw the football in the second half and finished with 140 yards passing.

The number seems negligibly low, but it doesn't convey the passes Sorgi under-threw, the ones that sailed or the ones that Wisconsin receivers dropped. Together, the various errors cost the Badgers somewhere between five and 10 completions.

Only one team has thrown more than 25 passes against Penn State. Nebraska needed just five passes in its win against the Lions and still had 50 yards passing, while Minnesota threw just 15 times in 20-14 win.

No team has thrown for more than 200 yards against Penn State, but the opponent has either had a lead in the closing seconds and wanted to run out the clock, or hasn't been good enough to be effective.

"The defense did a pretty good job after [Evan's touchdown reception] of not giving up the post," Sorgi said. "A safety would sit over top of the post, but the [linebacker] stayed inside on Brandon. He was able to pick it up and pick at them and push out."

That's a nice way of saying that the defense has big holes in it. The linebackers have routinely been unable to cover the receivers going across the middle and the cornerbacks play seven to 10 yards off of the line of scrimmage. While teams won't necessarily throw for a great deal of yardage by completing several passes underneath the secondary, opponents will have success moving the ball down the field and setting up an eventual touchdown run.

With Purdue and its receiving duo of Taylor Stubblefield and John Standeford coming up on Saturday and Michigan State looming in the distance, there are several opponents remaining that could be better in exploiting any holes in the secondary.

Before believing statistics, watch the action on the field. The numbers can cheat, but eyes rarely can.