Penn State didn’t have its best performance of the year on Saturday night in Happy Valley, but it was enough to hold off a hungry Michigan team. In the end, that’s all that mattered.

The Nittany Lions registered a 28-21 win over the Wolverines, locking up their second-straight top 25 victory this season. Last weekend, Penn State notched an important 17-12 road victory against Iowa at Kinnick Stadium.

It appeared as if Penn State was on its way to another blowout victory over Michigan at home, taking an early 21-0 advantage in the game. But Michigan fought its way back into the game, evening having an opportunity to tie in the closing minutes, but an incompletion from Shea Patterson to Ronnie Bell ended Michigan’s hopes.

After the game, James Franklin acknowledged that Penn State didn’t play its best game of the year, especially in the second half, but that it was enough to win the “chess match” against Michigan.

“We didn’t play our best in all three phases today. But we played well enough to win the game,” Franklin said. “Guys made plays when they needed to. It was a chess match all night long.”

Michigan was able to pull within a touchdown on two occasions. Once late in the third quarter, on a 12-yard run from Zach Charbonnet to make the score 21-14. A few plays later, Sean Clifford hit KJ Hamler for a 53-yard touchdown to get Penn State back up by two touchdowns at 28-21.

In the fourth quarter, Shea Patterson scored on a quarterback sneak on fourth down to make the score 28-21. And then Michigan’s final drive got inside the Penn State 10-yard line, but the Wolverines failed to convert.

Maybe it wasn’t pretty, but there are no style points. Franklin is just happy to add another tally in the win column.

“We’re 1-0. That’s always the goal,” Franklin said. “There are a lot of teams that aren’t 1-0 this week.”