In the midst of a resurgent season, when the college football nation has collectively turned over its formerly cold shoulder to talk about what Penn State is doing once more, Tony Hunt has remained silent.

Week after week, a couple of so-called Heisman-caliber running backs have waltzed into Beaver Stadium, snagging a week's worth of headlines on their way in. But the junior tailback has continued to bite his tongue as his praise has been all but absent.

The flames of neglect were sparked when all the talk centered around Minnesota's Laurence Maroney in week four. Then Maroney was suffocated by Penn State's defense, leaving with a meager 48 rushing yards.

So when Brian Calhoun -- the next best thing in the conference -- brought his nation-best 21 touchdowns to town on Saturday, and the focus was squarely on stopping him, that basically added lighter fluid to the blaze.

Hunt had finally heard enough.

"Coming in here, in my home stadium, and they're talking about another back and my name isn't mentioned," Hunt said. "I take that as a personal challenge to really outperform someone."

After Wisconsin scored its second touchdown, making it a two-possession football game with more than five minutes left, Penn State coach Joe Paterno put the ball and essentially the game in Hunt's hands. Shortly after that choice, there would be no questions about who the feature back was on that day.

The Nittany Lions gave the Badgers a heavy dose of Hunt on the game's final scoring drive, giving it to him on all five plays, resulting in a 10-yard touchdown run. The drive totaled 46 total yards: five came on a Wisconsin face mask penalty, the rest was all Hunt.

"I wanna be the guy with the ball in my hands in the fourth quarter," Hunt said. "I know what I'm capable of doing. I'm glad the coaches have faith in me, just like I have faith in myself."

He finished with 151 yards, his best rushing day as a Lion, on 24 carries. One could argue that the term underrated is severely overused in sports on collegiate and professional levels, but with one regular-season game remaining, Hunt is only 42 yards away from 1,000 on the season, quiet as kept.

As quiet as his performances have been, he's quieted his critics even more. When many people still assumed Austin Scott was flashier or more skilled, Hunt ran harder. Last season, when they said he wasn't big enough to handle a substantial workload, he put on weight in the offseason and got better at picking up on blitzes.

"I don't know where people got off thinking I wasn't a powerful back," Hunt said. "I've heard people say, 'He can't carry the ball too many times, he can't do this and that.' I kind of thought it was funny."

It's not funny being a defender in this conference when No. 26 is running downhill. Unlike most backs, he has little concern for his body on the field. He is not big on jukes or dodges or style points. Instead of making defenders look silly, Hunt would rather make them look defeated, by lowering his head and embarrassing them.

"I'm proud of him," senior defensive end Matthew Rice said. "He became a man this year; he started out the season as a boy. It takes more than one dude to bring him down. That's the type of back you need on your squad."

Hunt may have gone the majority of the season unnoticed by much of the media, but his teammates have surely been watching. Perhaps his departing senior center paid him the highest compliment possible.

"He's really comparable to Larry Johnson. If he can't run by you, he's gonna run through you," said center E.Z. Smith, who started games at guard during Johnson's 2,000-yard season.

"You're gonna know if you played a football game against him."