EVANSTON, Ill. -- At some point between walking off the field dejected in Pasadena and when the first hits of camp were delivered in July, the Nittany Lions were onto something that most outside the program weren't so sure of.
"Last year we didn't know how good we were until the end of the year," cornerback Amani Oruwariye said of the Lions' defense. "This year going into it we knew we were going to be good, we just had to play like it."
And so far they have. Sure, there would be question marks all spring and summer about replacing two starting defensive ends and add injured starting cornerback John Reid to the to-do list and the focus remained on Joe Moorhead, Saquon Barkley and the high scoring Penn State offense. Maybe they'd need to score even more to make up for the defense?
Between the year-round grind in the weight room, the sweat-drenched winter workouts and that season opener this defense was aware that, yes, it could do more than hold up its end of the bargain this season.
"We knew we were one of the better defenses in the country and our aim is to come out and prove it every single game," defensive end Shaka Toney said.
Now the rest of college football is seeing it too, as the Lions' defense has become a strength through six games this season, the latest feat coming on the heels of creating three first-half takeaways and holding Northwestern scoreless until the final two minutes of Saturday's 31-7 victory at Ryan Field. The No. 4 Lions' (6-0, 3-0 Big Ten) defense hasn't surrendered a point in the opening quarter of any game this season and, rather than just one or two players being the ones making the game-changing plays, the Lions seemingly get big-time production from a different player or players every week.
"If you look at us, we don't really have one thing that we're overpowering people with," James Franklin said. "It's not really necessarily just our defensive line, or just our linebackers or just our secondary. It's a little bit of all those things. ... Our d-line, our linebackers and our secondary are all fitting correctly and complementing one another to play really sound defense. When you watch us we're not a suffocating defense where you take every yard away on the field, the most important thing is we keep people out of the end zone and we create turnovers."
They're a little bend-but-don't-break, but through six games it's clear that this defense wasn't as broken as many might've thought to begin with. Take Toney as an example. Franklin stressed prior to the start of the season that the Lions' coaching staff needed to rethink Toney's role knowing that the 6-3, 233-pound speed rusher would still find a way to factor in this season.
Toney's speed is his best asset and the Wildcats found that out in the first quarter when the redshirt freshman checked in on third down to sack Clayton Thorson, and in the process forced a fumble that was recovered by Ryan Buchholz. Buchholz was elevated to a starting role a couple weeks ago when Torrence Brown was ruled out for the season with an injury. He too, along with starting end Shareef Miller who finished with one sack and four tackles, continues to rise to the occasion.
Toney, part of a third-down and obvious passing downs role that Franklin said will continue to grow as the season progresses, finished with the forced fumble and a pair of sacks. Much like defensive tackle Kevin Givens, who has the quick-twitch skills to explode off the ball and rush the passer, there are different role players up front who are getting worked in and producing.
"He's a disruptive guy," Franklin said of Toney. "You're going to look at him and say this guy is not a defensive end in the Big Ten, but I think we all probably need to look at and change what our picture of what a Big Ten defensive end is because he's extremely powerful, he's extremely explosive and he's just got a knack for getting on the edge of people. ... We need that. We need to be able to get pressure on the quarterback more consistently and he's a guy that brings that."
It was the Lions' back end, highlighted by Oruwariye, who, along with Christian Campbell, took on bigger roles this season because of Reid's knee injury and added interceptions on Saturday. Oruwariye snagged his third pick on the season when he ripped the ball away to halt the Wildcats' once promising 12-play opening drive.
Oruwariye called it a "who wants it more kind of thing" and despite missing two games due to injury he's been a difference maker in the turnover category. Penn State entered Saturday's game with seven interceptions, 10th most in the FBS, and continuing to hit that benchmark of creating three turnovers per game has the Lions riding into the bye week with a lofty turnover margin of plus-12.
Where the Lions' turnovers are coming from is also noteworthy. Oruwariye, viewed as a third starter who has arguably become the defense's top playmaker thus far, has three interceptions, Grant Haley has two and Troy Apke, Tariq Castro-Fields, Marcus Allen and Campbell all have one. For a team that had 10 interceptions all of last season, this is a noticeable change.
"We put in the work in the offseason," Oruwariye said. "I would've believed it if it was Grant that would've had three or if you said it would've been Christian. We all work hard to prepare for moments like this and I've just had enough opportunities and took advantage of it."
Perhaps it wasn't one big playmaker that the Lions lacked, but rather a collection of ones they had waiting in the wings, part of a deeper and faster defense that is allowing the Lions' offense a nice-sized leash while they try and get their footing for all four quarters. Even Saquon Barkley smiled when asked about his defense and how it's bailed this offense out, last week during a near 25-minute scoring drought and even in the Big Ten opener against Iowa where the offense accounted for just three points in the first half.
"I knew our defense was going to be pretty good," he said. "Spring ball, camp. Like I say, I think I say it every week, you guys only see the 10 minutes [of practice] on Wednesday, but we're with those guys every single day of the year and work and the effort that they put into it and the leadership they have over on that side of the field, gotta give credit to coach [Brent] Pry and that defensive staff, those guys work their butts off. It's no surprise to me. When the defense is throwing shutouts and playing their butts off, we as an offense have to find ways to answer."
As the Lions dipped well into their second-team defense and had them on the field when the Wildcats scored a one-yard rushing touchdown with 1:45 left in the game, Franklin was disappointed. The Lions' bid for a third shutout this season, which would've been the program's first time posting three shutouts since 1978, fell by the wayside.
"Our two unit got in the game and did not live up to the standard that we have overall, but obviously hard to critique," Franklin said. "Our guys are playing really well."