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Rapid Reaction: Penn State defense dominates, Saquon Barkley gets going late at Northwestern

Connor O'Gara

By Connor O'Gara

Published:

Final score: No. 4 Penn State 31, Northwestern 7

Key play: Shaka Toney sacks Clayton Thorson, forces fumble

Northwestern had nice field position and a chance to take the lead at the end of the first quarter. Facing third down in Penn State territory, Toney came up huge. He dismantled Thorson and forced a key turnover for Penn State. That set the tone that the Lions defense were ready to tee off on the Northwestern quarterback.

It also continued Penn State’s incredible streak of six games without allowing a first-quarter point. Not too shabby.

Offensive star: Trace McSorley, Penn State QB

Slim pickings here, but McSorley did exactly what the Lions needed him to. With Northwestern set on shutting down Barkley — it did for most of the game — McSorley needed to move the chains. That’s what he did. At one point, he had 14 straight completions. That was huge on a day in which PSU couldn’t get anything going on the ground.

McSorley’s final line (24 for 35, 245 yards, 1 TD) wasn’t eye-popping, but it was impressive considering those dump-offs to Barkley were a non-factor. That late touchdown run wasn’t bad, either. Sleeper games don’t seem to be a thing for McSorley.

What it means: Penn State has flaws, but it still looks awfully dangerous

I know. Barkley was bottled up by Northwestern. Conventional wisdom suggests that Penn State won’t beat better teams with the Heisman Trophy candidate stymied for three quarters. That might be true.

But consider this. Penn State’s defense once again showed up and punished an inferior team. McSorley was efficient. By the time Barkley got into positive yardage, it was a 17-0 Penn State lead. That’s a good sign if you ask me.

If you’re going to be a College Football Playoff contender, you have to be able to win games when your best weapon is taken away. That’s what Northwestern did. If you told Pat Fitzgerald that his defense was going to hold Barkley to negative yardage for most of the day, he would’ve been thrilled…until he realized that his team was still down three scores.

This had all the makings of a sleeper game for Penn State. Instead, the Lions got another blowout win ahead of their bye week and their most important stretch of the season. James Franklin will take that all day.

Connor O'Gara

Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.