UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- You can go the Milli Vanilli route and blame it on the rain, or you can blame it on the increasingly growing possibility that Penn State just might be overrated.
Regardless, for the second straight week, it's tough to feel all that great about what we saw from the Nittany Lions.
But, also for the second straight week, we are left with one bottom line which is the only thing that matters: A win is a win.
The No. 11 Lions overcame five turnovers and slogged through miserable, rainy conditions for a 17-7 victory over Northwestern at Beaver Stadium. The Lions were favored by 25 points and didn't come close to covering that massive number.
"It's a gritty win," quarterback Sean Clifford said. "That was as gritty as it gets, really."
"I'd love for them all to be pretty wins and sexy wins," James Franklin said. "But that's not the game we play."
Let's make one thing clear first: Penn State's defense is definitely NOT overrated. Those guys on that side of the ball played a terrific game and have been outstanding this season, allowing 7, 14, 12 and 10 points over the past four games. Coordinator Manny Diaz continues to be a phenomenal hire by Franklin.
"Extremely confident," tackle PJ Mustipher said of the defense's mindset. "And that's just from the work we put in. We don't wake up and do these things that we're doing. We put a lot of work into this stuff."
The Lions forced three turnovers, after taking the ball away four times in each of the previous two games.
The best thing we can say about Penn State right now is that this defense looks like it should be able to keep the team in any game, against any opponent. We'll find out in two weeks at Michigan, then against Minnesota and Ohio State, but the defense is absolutely legit.
OK, so what about the offense?
Let's go with ... maddening!
Northwestern's offense is terrible, and it was going against a great Penn State defense. And yet, the game was still very much in doubt in the fourth quarter, because the Lions' offense just couldn't get much going on the day.
Penn State rushed for 220 yards, which is great. Nicholas Singleton had 87 yards on 21 carries, while Kaytron Allen had 86 yards on 21 carries. And Keyvone Lee had 40 yards on 10 carries.
Hey, you'll take that any day, against any team.
But what you can't take is losing four fumbles -- two by Singleton, one by Allen and one by Lee.
Clifford also threw one bad interception and should have had another, but the Northwestern defender dropped a ball right to him.
Penn State came into the day No. 4 in the country with a +8 turnover margin (9 takeaways, 1 giveaway). But this day was a different story.
Hey, we can maybe blame it on the rain, right?
Franklin, to his credit, wanted nothing to do with that.
"I'm never going to allow weather to be an excuse," the coach said. "It doesn't matter. We have got to protect the football."
It wasn't just the fumbles.
Clifford had one of those days. The kind of days we've seen far too often from him. The kind of days that has many fans hoping to see freshman Drew Allar trot onto the field for an opportunity to take over the offense.
Clifford finished 10-of-20 for 140 yards with one TD and one interception.
"Obviously, that's not up to the standard that he normally plays at," Franklin said before later adding, "I don't think this was one of Sean's best games."
"This is a big day for management," Clifford said, "especially early when it was downpouring. I mean, it is tough to throw the ball when it's downpouring like that."
Penn State was up 14-0 at the half, and Northwestern's offense looked so bad that you had to think the game was pretty much over. But the Lions kept giving the ball away, and finally the Wildcats put together a good drive and scored on a 47-yard TD pass from Ryan Hilinski to Jacob Gill with 3:13 left in the third quarter.
Suddenly, we had ourselves a game.
Not that a lot of fans were still sitting in the stands to see it. Despite a big turnout for the game and fans sitting through the rain in the first half, at least half the crowd left their seats before the start of the fourth quarter.
Penn State answered Northwestern's TD with a big pass from Clifford to Parker Washington for 43 yards. That put the Lions in great position, but Northwestern's defense held and forced a field-goal attempt.
Jake Pinegar, who was 3-for-5 on the season coming in, booted a big 38-yarder to give Penn State a two score lead, 17-7, with 2:41 left in the third.
Northwestern had a golden opportunity as it followed up with a great drive inside the Penn State 10. On fourth-and-goal from the 1, Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald made a really peculiar decision to go for it instead of kicking a field goal to make it a one-score game.
Mustipher and the Penn State defense snuffed out a QB keeper by Hilinski to turn away the Wildcats and keep it 17-7. There was still time left, but down two scores, Northwestern's chances were slim and none against the Lions' defense.
"I was expecting them to run sneak," Mustipher said, predicting the play call at the goal line. "They had run it a little bit during the game, so just kind of getting off the ball, I was just trying to make sure everybody knew what was coming. Because I knew it was coming. So, I kind of signaled over to Chop (Robinson) and Hakeem (Beamon) to come in tight because they're about to sneak it. So, just getting off the ball, getting under their pads and trying to get a stop for the team."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Devyn Ford didn't play in the game, and Franklin revealed afterward that the running back is no longer on the team.
"He's decided that he wanted to focus on academics, and we wish him the best," Franklin said.
"I think you guys know I've praised Devyn Ford for four years, and I have a ton of respect for him. And I wish him nothing but the best."
Ford was No. 4 on the tailback depth chart -- behind Singleton, Allen and Lee -- and had appeared in all four games this season. He had 37 yards rushing on seven carries.
By cutting his season short at four games, Ford can still get a redshirt year if he decides to transfer elsewhere.
• Allen sat out the first half for apparent discipline reasons, although Franklin would not disclose any details.
"I don't get into injuries, and I don't get into internal decisions," Franklin said. "And I know sometimes that puts you guys (in the media) in a tough position, and I apologize for that. But again, I would rather keep those decisions internal, whether it's injuries, whether it is behavior modification, whether it may be rotations. ... I just don't think it's really anybody else's business."
Singleton had a good first half yardage-wise, but he fumbled twice. Franklin apparently was caught on TV saying, "Get him out of there." Singleton didn't see the field for most of the second half, until late in the game.
The freshman running back did have this great second-effort TD run in the first half:
That's a strong freshman. 💪@NickSingletonn x @PennStateFball pic.twitter.com/9CzbiX5ztp
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 1, 2022
• Franklin had this to say about Penn State's uncharacteristically bad turnover day:
"I think we were No. 2 in the country in turnover ratio (actually No. 4). Well, we saved them all up for tonight, and I don't know if I've ever seen anything like that."
• "With our offensive line and our defensive line, I felt like we controlled the game," Franklin noted of the play in the trenches.
• The offensive highlight of the day for Penn State was this beautiful play that saw Clifford hit tight end Brenton Strange for the first touchdown of the game.
This play design is beautiful, topped off by the effort by Brenton Strange at the end. pic.twitter.com/OPsorY2hxM
— Andrew Harbaugh (@MandrewNFL) October 1, 2022
• Penn State has a bye this week, then we'll all get to find out if the Lions are for real when they visit No. 4 Michigan on Oct. 15.
Are the Lions ready for that game? Check back Sunday for my follow-up column on that.
THE ESSENTIALS
THE INJURY REPORT
Wide receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith was injured up on the first offensive series and did not return. He was seen after the game wearing a walking boot.
Losing KLS would a big blow, as he is the No. 3 wide receiver behind Washington and Mitchell Tinsley. Redshirt freshman Tre Wallace is in line to be the No. 3 wideout if KLS can't go.
Linebacker Tyler Elsdon got banged up in the first quarter but did return to the game.
THE SCHEDULE
Penn State gets a bye next week, then will play a huge game at Michigan on Oct. 15. The Wolverines are No. 4, and Penn State is likely to ranked in the top 10, as well, for the matchup.
THE CONTENT
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