Fall camps for college football programs kick off in under a month. With the sport returning soon, BadgerBlitz.com dives into who Wisconsin will face on the field during the 2021 season.

Each preview breaks down every opponent, including last year's stats and who's back (and not back) on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Plus, we also receive insight from those who cover the respective programs.

*Sept. 4 -- vs. Penn State

*Sept. 11 -- vs. Eastern Michigan

*Sept. 18 -- BYE

*Sept. 25 -- vs. Notre Dame (at Soldier Field)

*Oct. 2 -- vs. Michigan

*Oct. 9 -- at Illinois

*Oct. 16 -- vs. Army

*Oct. 23 -- at Purdue

*Oct. 30 -- vs. Iowa

*Nov. 6 -- at Rutgers

*Nov. 13 -- vs. Northwestern

*Nov. 20 -- vs. Nebraska

*Nov. 27 -- at Minnesota

Wisconsin kicks off its 2021 campaign with a cross-divisional contest against Penn State. Often battling on the recruiting trail in recent years, the Badgers and Nittany Lions will clash inside Camp Randall Stadium in early September.

Penn State started its truncated 2020 season with five straight losses before turning it around to win its last four games. Head coach James Franklin will welcome back his top quarterback, running back and wide receiver -- along with his leading tackler and an intriguing secondary -- from a year ago. Now, can the program work back to contend in the Big Ten East, especially with a new offensive coordinator in Mike Yurcich?

*Record: 4-5

*Points per game: 29.8

*Opponents points per game: 27.7

*Rushing yards per game: 174.3

*Opponents rushing yards per game: 130.2

*Passing yards per game: 256.0

*Opponents' passing yards per game: 198.6

*Third-down conversions: 42.1%

*Opponents' third-down conversions: 37%

*Total turnovers created: 9 (four interceptions, five fumble recoveries)

*Total turnovers given up: 17 (nine interceptions, eight fumbles)

*Sacks: 21

*Sacks allowed: 28

Yurcich will take over a unit that brings back quarterback Sean Clifford (60.6% completion percentage, 1,883 yards, 16 touchdowns, nine interceptions), running back Keyvone Lee (438 rushing yards, 4.9 yards per carry, four touchdowns), and dynamic, all-conference wide receiver Jahan Dotson (52 receptions, 884 yards, eight touchdowns). Dotson and second-year wide out Parker Washington (36, 489, six) will be a duo that Wisconsin's secondary will need to contain to start the 2021 season off with a win.

Penn State will need to replace two-time team captain Pat Freiermuth, who, along with claiming first-team all-conference honors by the coaches in 2020, was also named the Kwalick-Clark Big Ten tight end of the year. He caught 92 passes for the program from 2018-20.

The Nittany Lions also lost a pair of significant offensive linemen in Will Fries and Michal Menet. All three are headed to the NFL.

The offense will need to improve in one critical area -- it allowed 28 sacks in nine games last season, more than three per game. The Nittany Lions allowed five or more sacks in four of its nine contests in 2020.

*Key returners: QB Sean Clifford, RB Keyvone Lee, RB Noah Cain, WR Jahan Dotson, OL Mike Miranda (2020 PFF Grade 63.8), OL Rasheed Walker (2020 PFF Grade 70.6), OL Caeden Wallace (2020 PFF Grade 68.3), WR Parker Washington

*Key additions: RB Jon Lovett (Baylor)

*Key departures: TE Pat Freiermuth, OL Will Fries, OL Michal Menet. QB Will Levis (Kentucky), OL C.J. Thorpe (TBD)

From Blue and White Illustrated:

*Transfer trade-off: Is Penn State better after portal comings and goings?

*Looking ahead to the 2022 NFL Draft

*10 things we learned from Penn State football spring practice

The Nittany Lions will need to replace NFL 2021 draftees Ofade Oweh and Shaka Toney on their defensive line. Micah Parsons opted out of the 2020 season, but he became another first-round selection coming out of Happy Valley. In addition, some other key contributors, defensive tackle Antonio Shelton (Florida) and linebacker Lance Dixon (West Virginia), transferred from the program.

However, linebackers Ellis Brooks (60 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss) and Jesse Luketa (59, 2.5) return for 2021. Penn State's secondary should be interesting and pose a challenge to Wisconsin's aerial attack with safety Jaquan Brisker (57 tackles, six pass breakups) and cornerbacks Tariq Castro-Fields and Joey Porter Jr.

*Key returners: LB Ellis Brooks, S Jaqaun Brisker, CB Tariq Castro-Fields, LB Jesse Luketa, DT P.J. Mustipher, CB Joey Porter Jr., LB Brandon Smith

*Key additions: CB Johnny Dixon (South Carolina), DL Arnold Ebiketie (Temple), DT Derrick Tangelo (Duke)

*Key departures: LB Lance Dixon (West Virginia), DL Ofade (Jayson) Oweh, LB Micah Parsons, DT Antonio Shelton (Florida), DE Shane Simmons (Marshall), DL Shaka Toney, S Lamont Wade

David Eckert from Blue White Illustrated answered a few quick questions before fall camp begins:

What is the position to watch during fall camp?

For me, it’s running back. Penn State has five running backs on its roster with a decent amount of experience, and that situation will need to be sorted out. Although this is just an educated guess, I suspect the Week 1 starter will be Noah Cain, who suffered an injury on Penn State’s very first drive last season and missed the rest of the year. Keyvone Lee emerged to take most of the carries as a true freshman last season, and Caziah Holmes and Devyn Ford were both highly-touted recruits who also filled in admirably last year. Now John Lovett is entering the room, too, after four solid seasons at Baylor. There will be a lot of players in that room who feel they’ve earned carries and only so many touches to go around.

Entering fall camp, who could be a surprise for the team?

There are definitely a few guys who I could foresee having breakout years, but I’m going to zero in on linebacker Brandon Smith. Smith is a lengthy kid who has all the talent and athleticism in the world but just hasn’t quite managed to put everything together yet. He was mostly playing at the "Sam" linebacker spot last season. This year, he’s moving over to the "Will," which should put him closer to the line of scrimmage most of the time. He’s a great tackler and he’s proven solid against the run, so I think he could explode with this change into a special player. Penn State needs someone to step up within its group of linebackers after what was a poor season from that unit.

This season goes well if ...

Sean Clifford figures it out. It’s really that simple. Penn State out-gained its opponents by more than 100 yards per game last season and the Nittany Lions went 4-5 because they couldn’t stop giving the ball away. Clifford threw nine interceptions in nine games and was generally unreliable. New offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich is widely viewed as a coach who works well with quarterbacks. Clifford certainly has the arm talent, so if Yurcich can get him rolling then Penn State will be very difficult to beat.

This season goes off the rails if ...

Well, if Clifford doesn’t get more reliable in a hurry Penn State is in trouble, because they’ve got only two scholarship quarterbacks behind him — neither of whom have played a meaningful snap. But to offer a different perspective from the previous response, Penn State also needs to get its red zone offense sorted out after scoring on only 73% of its red zone trips last season, which was the 20th-worst rate in the nation. Additionally, the defense has to generate more turnovers. Penn State averaged only a takeaway per game last season which again ranked in the bottom half of the Big Ten. Generally, the Nittany Lions need to find points in the margins. They didn’t last year, and they paid dearly for it. The little things can’t suffer in the same way this season if they want to have a bounce back year.

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*Thanks to David Eckert from Blue White Illustrated on confirming the key returners, additions and departures -- which were initially put together looking at last year's stats and PFF grades, along with the aforementioned linked articles.