In the days leading up to Penn State's 35-14 demolition of Wisconsin, all of the talk was about whether the Nittany Lions front seven would be able to slow down the Badger's outstanding running back, Brian Calhoun.

They did, holding him to a measly 38 yards on 20 carries. And in doing so, they gave themselves a chance to pin back their ears and go after Wisconsin's unlucky quarterback, John Stocco.

"[San Francisco '49ers defensive tackle] Anthony Adams called me at the beginning of the week and said, 'You have to earn the right to rush the passer. You've got to stuff the run,' " defensive end Tamba Hali said. "That's the message that I kept playing in my head."

After earning that right, the defensive line took full advantage, recording a ridiculous nine sacks, four of which belonged to Hali.

Hali tied Michael Haynes' Penn State record for sacks in a game, in addition to breaking the record for tackles-for-a-loss in a game with seven.

"Nobody can block that dude," cornerback Alan Zemaitis said. "Tamba on the field is a businessman. He wears a three-piece suit out there."

Adams' pronouncement proved to be prophetic and stopping Calhoun was integral in allowing the defensive line to wreak havoc. Penn State held the Badgers off of the scoreboard in the first half, while the Lions piled on 21 points. At this point, Wisconsin had to turn away from their trademark running game and air the ball out, a strategy that their personnel was not prepared to carry out.

"We felt like if we could get a couple of quick touchdowns, we felt like we could turn them to the one dimension they didn't want to do, and that's throw the ball," Penn State quarterback Michael Robinson said. "If we could get an early lead, we were going to put it up to Stocco to try and make some passes against us and try to make him beat us."

With Stocco forced to drop back play after play, the defense of Penn State had a field day, with seven players having at least half of a sack.

But the day definitely belonged to Hali, who racked up nine tackles to go along with his four sacks despite seeing constant double teams and even the occasional triple team.

"Sometimes they had the tight end and the tackle and then roll the guard so if I got too far up field he would bump me," Hali said, "But it is all a part of the game."

The extra attention that was paid to Hali opened things up for his teammates on the defensive line, and allowed both Jay Alford and Matthew Rice to get to the quarterback.

"Our front four did a great job today. All kind of sacks," linebacker Paul Posluszny said. "Anytime they can dominate the line of scrimmage, it makes it easier on everyone behind them."

It certainly did not make life any easier for Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez, who simply ran out of ideas to help redshirt freshman right tackle Kraig Urbik.

"Obviously we couldn't block them very well, you could see that. We couldn't establish the run and had a hard time with pressure off the edge," Alvarez said. "We were trying to chip with a back and try to get doubles every place and let [right tackle] Joe Thomas go single block. Everyone else we would to get doubles or else we would call for the back to stay in. And we had to. We had to because [Hali] was too much for Urbik. He's a really good player."

Hali was rewarded for his efforts by being named the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week and upped his season sack total to 11.

Robinson believed that the award was long overdue.

"Tamba, man, he has a motor that won't stop; Tamba is definitely one of the best defensive ends in the country," Robinson said. "I think he is very underrated right now; he's not getting the national exposure or the national recognition that he should."