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O c T O B E R 1 , 2 0 1 6 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 3 unusual circumstances. I've never seen this before. We've got seven lineback- ers who are out. … Manny Bowen had never played a play of Mike linebacker ever, but he got in the game, we kept it really vanilla, and he played really well." • Despite the slick field conditions, Penn State didn't have a single turnover in the game. The Lions caught a lot of flak for their giveaways early in the sea- son, so they deserve props for their im- provement on Saturday in a game in which even one turnover could have changed the outcome. THE BAD • As evidenced by the final play of the game, the Lions have to find a way to get Barkley the ball in open space more con- sistently. Heading into overtime, he had 58 yards on 19 carries, and 23 of those yards came on a single run in the first quarter. • The injury bug that has devastated the linebacker corps has now taken a big bite out of the secondary. Cornerback Christian Campbell got knocked to the ground at the end of a first-quarter run and had to hop off the field, continuing Penn State's nightmarish string of de- fensive injuries. Also, Malik Golden missed the game for undisclosed reasons. The one piece of good news for Penn State was that cornerback Grant Haley was on the field for most of the a?er- noon. • For the second week in a row, Penn State had a defensive player tossed for targeting. This time it was defensive tackle Curtis Cothran, who exited a?er a hit on quarterback Mitch Leidner. The penalty kept a Minnesota drive going a?er a third-down incompletion. THE TAKEAWAY Franklin said after the game that this was a learning experience for his young team, and it's always better to learn from a victory than from a defeat. One thing the Lions definitely learned is that perseverance pays off; they trailed three times in the game and rallied each time. Next Saturday, they'll face another un- beaten opponent in Maryland. The Ter- rapins roared through their nonconference opponents under first- year coach D.J. Durkin, although it bears mentioning that those opponents – Howard, FIU and UCF – entered this weekend's action with a collective 2-10 record. The Terps also ripped visiting Purdue, 50-7, on Saturday in their Big Ten opener. In dominating the Boilermak- ers, they got 204 yards from sophomore running back Ty Johnson and totaled 388 rushing yards as a team. So Penn State's battered defense can expect an- other physical test on homecoming weekend. But first, they've got some celebrating to do. "These guys believe in themselves and in what we're doing and how we're doing it," Franklin said. "They're having a great time in the locker room. It's awe- some in there right now."

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