The Matt Campbell era is off to a 3-0 start for the Penn State Nittany Lions, but they will welcome the Wisconsin Badgers to Happy Valley this weekend for their first real challenge of the season.

With home-field advantage and early momentum, the expectation is that Penn State will take care of business. Wisconsin under head coach Luke Fickell has faced stiffer early tests, including a season-opening matchup against Notre Dame where the Badgers stood tall for a while before the Fighting Irish pulled away in the second half.

This game feels like one that will be closer than some predictors believe.

On the Wisconsin side, there is a hot-seat feeling in Madison, and the Badgers will want to come out with a huge ranked victory on the road. Along with several colleagues from A to Z Sports, we put together score predictions for this football game, including key storylines and players to watch.

Here is how we see the game playing out.

Rob Gregson, A to Z Sports Alabama

While I thought Wisconsin showed signs of improvement under Luke Fickell against Notre Dame, you ultimately saw a team and a program that was outmatched by the Fighting Irish at every level as the game went along. Wisconsin has had the last past couple of weeks to regroup and take on lesser competition, but that changes this week when the Badgers travel to State College to take on a rebuilt Nittany Lions under Matt Campbell.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Wisconsin found a way to keep things competitive, but I think Rocco Becht and the rest of the offense will get to work even without wide receiver Koby Howard. I’ll take Wisconsin to cover, but Penn State gets the win.

Final score prediction: Penn State 28, Wisconsin 21.

Craig Smith, A to Z Sports Miami

This game had its potential for points cut down with the reported loss of Penn State star wide receiver Koby Howard to injury. The drop-off behind Howard’s 344 receiving yards is sharp, with Chase Sowell, 12 catches for 145 yards, being the next most productive receiver on the roster so far this year for quarterback Rocco Becht.

Wisconsin has picked up its offense a bit since the 41-13 season-opening loss to Notre Dame, but the Badgers’ big-play element lies greatly with Malachi Coleman, who has been out with a head injury. His availability is unknown and crucial to the Badgers’ passing game. The Penn State might not have its usual ability in the passing game on Saturday, but they won’t have to.

The Nittany Lions’ 4-headed rushing attack led by Carson Hansen grinds down the Badgers over 4 quarters, and the defense does the rest in a boring but effective win.

Final score prediction: Penn State 23, Wisconsin 13.

Justin Churchill, A to Z Sports Oklahoma

The Koby Howard news casts a dark cloud over this game since everyone wants to see if he could keep the— his big game momentum going. He’s their number one receiver and now they have to turn to Chase Sowell. Now that— now how that goes for the duration of Howard’s absence is unknown. But on Saturday, I think it will be fine.

Matt Campbell is finally getting to see what his run game can do, and he has some guys who all do things very well and very differently. This is going to be a game, I think, where Penn State dominates in the sense that everyone knows they’re the better team, but the Badgers keep it close at the end.

Final score prediction: Penn State 21, Wisconsin 17.

Ryan Roberts, A to Z Sports Notre Dame

Penn State has a natural advantage being the home team in Happy Valley. I do think that this Wisconsin team has felt more of the big-game presence with their season-opening defeat to Notre Dame. While that was a loss, I believe the atmosphere can prepare you for this type of battle. This will be Penn State’s first opponent against a Power Four team, which I think matters.

Penn State is without star wide receiver Koby Howard, and I think that is going to be a huge loss with him being one of the few big-play elements in this overall offensive attack. Wisconsin has a quarterback in Colton Joseph and a running back in Abu Sama III who have the ability to hurt you on the ground. I believe they get the run game going, front-run from the beginning, and Penn State is able to come back and make this an extremely tight game where a couple of plays are the decider in the end.

Give me Wisconsin in the upset.

Final score prediction: Wisconsin 27, Penn State 24.