Final: No. 21 Northwestern 23, Penn State 21

Key play: Jake Mitchell’s 34-yard game-winning field goal

You’re only as good as your last kick, right? Fortunately for Mitchell, nobody is going to remember the fact that he missed two field goals and an extra point. All people are going to remember is Mitchell’s game-winning kick to give Northwestern its first quality B1G win of the season. Amazing is the fact that it took a win-or-go-home kick for Mitchell to bear down and drill his best of the day.

Telling stat: Northwestern runs for 227 yards

It had been a rough month for Justin Jackson. The Northwestern tailback hadn’t eclipsed the 40-yard mark in his last three games. On just one carry, he did that on Saturday. The sophomore wore down the Penn State defense with his 186 yards. That was much more like the high-volume effort we were used to seeing out of Jackson. Even better, he had help. Warren Long busted a 35-yard run and Clayton Thorson flashed his mobility on a 16-yard gainer. Jackson’s monster day was needed after Thorson went down in the first quarter. Speaking of that…

Worth noting:

–Zack Oliver leads comeback win

For the first time all year, Thorson was sidelined. He took a few tough shots in the first quarter and was sidelined the rest of the day with a lower body injury. in his place, Zack Oliver stepped up. The Wildcat backup engineered a drive that set up Mitchell’s game-winning field goal. It certainly wasn’t the type of effort that will make Pat Fitzgerald consider making a change at quarterback assuming Thorson isn’t seriously hurt — Oliver was just 11-of-24 for 11 yards — but it was enough to put the Wildcats in position down the stretch. Against a dominant Penn State defense, you can’t ask for much more than that.

–Carl Nassib sets Penn State single season sacks record, leaves game

Talk about a bittersweet day for the nation’s best pass-rusher. After he set the single-season Penn State sacks record, he left the game and was out for that crucial Northwestern drive down the stretch. Nobody saw what exactly the injury was, just that he jogged off the field late and went to the locker room. He returned to the sideline, so that’s a positive sign. But Nassib has arguably been the B1G Defensive MVP so far, so if he suffered anything more than a stinger, it’ll be monitored closely throughout the week.

What it means: PSU still can’t beat quality teams, NU can

This was Penn State’s chance to pick up a quality win and lock down an even better bowl. You could argue that the Lions don’t have an impressive win to date. Instead, Northwestern stepped up and earned its third quality win of the season. These two teams are actually pretty evenly matched. But Northwestern steps up and comes up with the key stops against better teams. This will only help the Wildcats’ rising standing in the College Football Playoff poll.