In a day where nothing came easy for the favorites in the Big Ten, it sure looked like Penn State would follow suite. The Nittany Lions offense sputtered with eight unsuccessful drives to start the game that included seven punts and one lost fumble. There were uncharacteristic mistakes that had not been seen in recent weeks, as it seemed that this time Penn State would need to go the distance to get past those pesky Scarlet Knights.
However, Penn State was able to pull something out of its pocket that has not been there in recent years - a reliable running game.