While many will likely best remember Joe Paterno's second half misfortunes against Wisconsin Saturday, the end of the first half got the Penn State's head coach as riled up as he'd been all season.

After just having scored the game's only touchdown, putting them ahead 10-3 with 23 seconds to play in the second quarter, the Badgers made use of a new rule in order to run out the clock, preventing Penn State's offense from getting a final shot to score before halftime.

Wisconsin rookie head coach Bret Bielema told his kickoff team to run offsides before the ball was kicked. With the new clock rules introduced this season, the game clock starts when the ball is kicked, and not when it touches a return man, as had been the case in years past.

On the kick, some Badgers were 10 yards past the ball by the time kicker Taylor Mehlhaff booted it. Wisconsin had such a head start on the play that Nittany Lions returner A.J. Wallace was gobbled up promptly after catching the ball. Between kick and tackle, nine seconds ran off the clock.

"It was just another opportunity," Bielema said of the strategy. "We want to make sure that we always handle and manage the clock effectively. That was an opportunity for us to do so."

Penn State took the offsides penalty and had the Badgers re-kick, only with 14 seconds to play this time.

Again, Wisconsin employed the same strategy, deliberately running offsides in order to kill more clock.

This time, however, Paterno was livid as it became obvious his opponent was taking advantage of a rule by intentionally committing penalties.

Paterno pointed and screamed while drifting 10 yards onto the field, where he grabbed side judge Terry Anderson and yelled again.

Referee Dave Witvoet came over to escort Paterno back to the sideline, but the coach persisted with his argument that something should be done by the officials to combat Wisconsin's tactic.

"It's just a situation where they can do that to you, and that's what they did," defensive coordinator Tom Bradley said. "[Paterno] was upset that he knew they were doing it deliberately, that it was intentional."

Wisconsin called a timeout to discuss its options on the third kickoff, while Paterno took the opportunity to yell some more at Anderson, who remained stone-faced.

With four seconds remaining on the clock, Wisconsin squibbed the next kick and took its lead into halftime.

Conversely, Paterno took his gripe into halftime.

Jogging off the field still visibly upset, Paterno twice shooed and swatted away ABC's Bonnie Bernstein, whose second failed attempt to interview the coach was shown live.

"He was mad about the officials and the kickoff," Penn State director of branding and communications Guido D'Elia said. "And it was like 'Don't do it, Bonnie. Do you have any common sense at all?' "

Bielema was satisfied with the way things turned out.

"As a head coach it is my responsibility to know the rules and how they are interpreted," he said. "It is something that our kids were aware of. We wanted to put ourselves in position to have the maximum coverage that we could."

Bradley added after the game that Penn State has no such strategy for kickoffs should the Lions be in a comparable situation to Wisconsin's.

Day to remember

Offense: Andrew Quarless. The true freshman tight end made five catches for a career and team-high 62 yards.

Defense: Linebackers. Paul Posluszny had 14 tackles, the most by any Lion since Oct. 8, 2005, while Dan Connor fought through a broken hand to record 10 tackles and a sack, which forced a fumble. Sean Lee might have been most impressive, though, making 13 stops, sacking John Stocco twice and recovering a pair of fumbles. One of those recoveries came on a fumble that the sophomore forced himself.

Day to forget

Offense: The offensive line. The front five played like it usually does against talented defenses -- not well enough.

Defense: Donnie Johnson. The senior safety dropped an interception that likely could have been returned for a touchdown.

Quotable:

Wisconsin's All-America tackle, Joe Thomas, on his view of the Paterno collision.

"It looked like he was taking a nap or something," Thomas told The Capital Times. "He didn't try to get out of the way at all."

Extra Point: Had the current clock rules been in effect last year, Penn State might have been wise to run a few "offsides kicks" before the final series at Michigan, perhaps preventing Steve Breaston from breaking a big return while taking more time off the clock.