Penn State coach James Franklin led his team to a 16-10 win over Wisconsin on Saturday afternoon.

It wasn’t always pretty, but the defense gutted out a tough performance and the offense produced just enough points to win.

Wisconsin’s offense ran a staggering 95 plays, but produced just 10 points. The Nittany Lions came up clutch on multiple occasions, including with a blocked field goal and a timely fumble recovery in the first half.

Penn State also picked off Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz twice win the game’s final couple minutes.

Here’s Franklin’s thought’s on the win inside of a tough atmosphere at Camp Randall Stadium:

“I’m just super proud of the entire team,” Franklin said. “That’s a gutsy win, on the road, in a hostile environment. Obviously our defense played unbelievable … You talk about time of possession, it’s gonna be interesting, you guys probably know better than me, but explosive plays and turnovers I think are obviously going to be the difference in the game.”

Franklin also addressed Penn State’s inefficiency on offense — at least in the first half. This game was scoreless at the break, and Penn State managed just 42 yards of offense in that time.

Franklin credited the Badgers and Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard:

“This is a really good defense,” Franklin said. “Coach Leonhard does a great job. They’ve been top five in defense the last couple years. Their linebackers were super aggressive and downhill, which made it hard to stay on double teams.

“Once we made that adjustment, we knew we had to get the ball on the perimeter whether that’s with outside zone or with the [bubble screens]. That helped us get going because it’s hard to live at 3rd and long all day long.”

Penn State hosts Ball State in Week 2.