UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The smoke from the pre-game fireworks barely escaped Beaver Stadium before Saquon Barkley lit up the night, taking a direct snap and dashing down the sideline for a 69-yard touchdown run on the Nittany Lions' second play from scrimmage.
"It's something new that we tried to put in that we thought would work this week, and I was able to get a good feel with the block and the o-line was able to do a good job," Barkley said. "It starts up front and those guys owned it today."
The No. 2 Nittany Lions jumped out to an early 14-0 lead ahead of No. 19 Michigan and the first real test of the Lions' season was passed with flying colors as they dispatched the Wolverines 42-13 in front of a crowd of 110,823, the largest ever in Beaver Stadium. The 42 points scored is the most Michigan (5-2, 2-2), the top-ranked defense in the country, surrendered since 2015 against Ohio State. The Lions racked up 506 total yards in the process.
It was Penn State's (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) first victory against a ranked opponent this season, adding to the narrative that this team continues to be in the heat of the College Football Playoff discussion and, if it keeps clicking like it did under the lights in front of a White Out crowd, there's no telling where this season could go.
"We got something to prove every week and that's how this team plays," linebacker Jason Cabinda said. "That's why we play with an edge and play with a chip because we feel like we've got something to prove week in and week out and that's what we're going to do."
The Lions' bye week provided the team a chance to regroup and the results showed as Trace McSorley, despite being up and down in the first half with an interception and nearly throwing another, still connected well with his receivers and tight end Mike Gesicki for multiple chunk gains. Gesicki, once a highly-touted basketball prospect, high pointed a pair of balls while senior DaeSean Hamilton sparked the offense hauling in receptions of 26, 27 and 37 yards. Hamilton finished with six catches for 115 yards.
McSorley was sharp in the second half, finishing the game with completions on 17-of-26 attempts for 282 yards and one passing touchdown. He also took off running 11 times for 76 yards and scored three touchdowns on the ground.
Connecting on the gains of 25-plus yards proved to be the difference. It also helped that the Lions' offensive line, which started redshirt freshman Will Fries, put together a performance that Franklin said he was "very proud of." That was a huge development against a defense that was expected to potentially give this line fits.
"When you play that style of defense and they’ve had success against everybody, you have to be able and willing to hit the go balls, the fade balls, the inside fade," James Franklin said. "Typically, people can’t hit them enough to make them pay for playing that style of defense. Tonight, we were able to do that. In my opinion, it was the biggest difference in the game. When you’re able to complete long balls, shots down the field against a team that is trying to sack your quarterback and trying to play man coverage, you’re going to be difficult to deal with."
However Barkley goes is how the Lions' offense flows and after getting dropped in the backfield against Northwestern, the Lions had Barkley taking direct snaps, much like his first touchdown of the night and continued to feature him as a receiver.
Barkley hauled in a 42-yard touchdown in the 4th quarter on a ball he bobbled to himself and in the process became the fourth player in the history of the Big Ten, and the first at Penn State, to rush for 3,000 yards and have 1,000 receiving yards during his collegiate career.
Barkley dropped a pass off his favorite wheel route earlier in the game, a detail guard Brendan Mahon later smiled about, adding that he knew Barkley, seemingly Mr. Perfect, wouldn't drop two passes in one game. Of course, he didn't.
Barkley continued to bolster his Heisman resume, finishing with 108 rushing yards on 15 carries and two touchdowns, plus hauling in three receptions for 53 yards, with the long score of 42 yards adding another clip to his impressive highlight reel.
In many ways this looked like the Penn State offense of old, as in the one from one year ago when the Lions shocked the college football world en route to a Big Ten title and Rose Bowl berth. Proving this team is much different than the one that was pounded 49-10 one year ago in Ann Arbor -- a game in which the Lions hit rock bottom and realized they needed to up their level of preparation to compete with the likes of Michigan -- Penn State kept their foot on the gas late in the game, also making a statement to pollsters that this No. 2 ranking should hold ahead of next Saturday's showdown on the road against No. 6 Ohio State.
Putting last year's 49-10 drubbing against Michigan to rest was downplayed publicly last week, but that score was a talking point in the football building this week and apparently Saturday night on the sideline too. Before a fourth-quarter series, ESPN sideline reporter Maria Taylor reported that offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead asked his group if they remembered last year's 49-10 score.
Penn State is 16-1 since last year's defeat and after this win this team looked like it could be hitting it's stride.
"It was always in the back of our heads I'd say for a whole year," defensive end Ryan Buchholz said. "That was the last time we lost in the regular season and it was obviously a big game and people have been pretty upset about it. Coach [Sean] Spencer was talking to us about it and he said it's always been in the back of his mind like everybody else's."
That message carried over to the Lions' linebackers, particularly the leader of the defense in Cabinda who finished with a game-high 13 tackles and also had a sack and forced a fumble. Penn State's defense, one that upstaged Michigan's star-studded front, held the Wolverines to 269 yards of total offense, just 103 of which came on the ground.
Quarterback John O'Korn was sacked seven times and completed just 16-of-28 passes for 166 yards. The Wolverines' top back, Karan Higdon, finished with 15 carries for 45 yards.
"We knew we owed these guys and had to return the favor," Cabinda said. "We did that today. It feels great."
The Lions' defense still has yet to surrender a point in the first quarter of any game this season. A Christian Campbell strip sack led to a fourth-quarter fumble recovery by Robert Windsor, which set the table for Barkley's bobbled touchdown catch. The takeaways weren't as plentiful for the Lions' defense as they've been, but the margin of error also is drastically less during this critical stretch of the schedule that features three top-25 opponents.
For Penn State to get to where it wants to go it'll need this offense to continue to look like this while the Lions' defense also continues it's stingy ways. The offensive line looked much improved and was aided by the wildcat and motion wrinkles, while even the specialists were better with Tyler Davis hitting all of his extra points.
There's a tall order ahead on the road against Urban Meyer's Buckeyes, but until at least the wee hours of Sunday morning Franklin planned to celebrate this victory, one that showed the Lions bridged a gap that looked more like a canyon 13 months ago.
"All week long, everybody was talking about their defense," Franklin said. "We got a pretty good defense around here, too."
It's safe to say this offense, looking like it's back to its old ways, certainly isn't too shabby, either.