Think back to last year. Penn State was overmatched against Temple. Yes, Temple.

It wasn’t some back-and-forth nail-biter. Once PSU’s offensive line got on its heels, it was a complete beatdown.

That became an all-too-real trend with that group. Whenever PSU dealt with in-game adversity — an early deficit, a horrific offensive line performance, a stout secondary — the Lions lost.

PSU lost seemingly every non-defensive line starter on Saturday. Oh, and Saquon Barkley left — and later returned — on the game’s first play. The Lions had every reason to allow 42 points and lose to another in-state rival.

Instead, James Franklin picked up an ugly win against Temple that he had to have.

Should Penn State fans be happy with Saturday’s effort? No. Beating Temple by seven at home was once unthinkable. But times have changed.

Would last year’s group have won that game? We don’t know. We do know that Trace McSorley seems to operate better from a deficit than Christian Hackenberg ever did. We do know that with Barkley on the shelf for the majority of the game, PSU’s offense didn’t go in reverse.

This was a win-by-any-means-necessary game. PSU fans are sick of those by now, but Saturday could’ve been much, much worse.

Look at what Iowa did. The Hawkeyes went from the rising underdog program to the team that got out-muscled by an FCS team in one afternoon. And Wisconsin, which was favored by 34 points, narrowly escaped Georgia State.

So yes, it could’ve been much worse.

PSU is not going to be this banged up all year. Eventually, they’ll get their starting linebackers back instead of having walk-ons out there. Maybe they’ll have a completely healthy secondary, too.

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This team is depleted beyond belief right now. Eventually, they’ll get healthier and better.

McSorley is plenty healthy. With him under center, this group has a little more fight than last year’s group. He’s nowhere near as gifted as Hackenberg, but we’re starting to see why so many Penn State veterans couldn’t wait to see this guy starting.

And remember that PSU defense that was gashed by Pitt’s ground game last week? Temple — with Jahad Thomas — only ran for 1.4 yards per carry. Given how many injuries the Lions had entering Saturday, that was a major positive.

PSU still doesn’t look like a top-25 team. Not to make excuses, but there aren’t many defenses that would dominate with that many injuries.

But at the very least, Penn State had enough in the tank to avoid a colossal embarrassment.

That’s about all the Lions could’ve hoped for given their circumstances on Saturday.