Penn State football is feeling good with everything in front of it after resounding win at Purdue

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Penn State football coach James Franklin was in a chatty mood during his postgame news conference following a 49-10 thumping of Purdue. He raved about star senior tight end Tyler Warren, who should be in the Heisman Trophy conversation, in the 11th-year leader of the Lions’ mind, following a 190-all-purpose yards, two touchdown day against the Boilermakers. Franklin raved about junior quarterback Drew Allar’s growth and consistency in recent weeks. He was 17 of 19 for 247 yards and three touchdowns, but afterward, his head coach was happier about his demeanor than his stat sheet. Consistency day in and day out has led the second-year starter to be a calming presence for his teammates and headache for opposing defenses to deal with.

Moments later, the players who spoke to reporters had the same relaxed vibe about them. Anyone who looked at this game ahead of time knew it would be a blowout. The Boilermakers are 1-9 and have very little going for them. On this day, though, that wasn’t the focus for Penn State. Its focus, instead, was to finally put a full 60 minutes together instead of a good half here or good quarter there being the lone reason it powered its way to a victory. And, on Saturday, the mission was accomplished. The Lions scored in every quarter. Starters shined. Backups thrived. Aside from not creating a turnover, there wasn’t much more Franklin could or should have hoped for. The Lions came to town with a plan and executed it, ensuring in the process that everything it wants to achieve this season remains obtainable.

Penn State-Purdue takeaways: Tyler Warren stars again; how healthy will the Lions leave West Lafayette?

“I thought that was the best game we played overall, in terms of four quarters, offense, defense, special teams, complimentary football,” Franklin said. “We were able to play 68 players in the game, which is great and is really going to help us from an experience standpoint. Defensively, continue to play dominant third quarter football. Ten plays for 35 yards, but that also has to do with our offense sustaining drives. Tyler Warren continues to just make plays in a ton of different ways. Like I mentioned before, I think he’s part of the conversation of one of the best players in all of college football, let alone the tight end position.

“I think I told you guys at the beginning of the week that we needed to find a way to win this game and get better. I thought we did that tonight. We want to continue on that trajectory this week.”

The reality is that Penn State must continue on that trajectory. Becuase, it’s a very good football team, but far from a perfect one. The Lions must still trek to Minnesota, where they will be a double-digit favorite, before hosting Maryland on Senior Day, where they will once again be favored. Win out, and a trip to the first 12-team College Football Playoff is assured.

Winning a game or more in it is not, of course. And, it won’t be possible without more efforts like the one we saw Saturday. There were few mistakes. There were no coaching errors. And the Lions’ best players answered the bell. They’ll need to keep doing so. Not every opponent moving forward will be as bad as Purdue. But a repeat effort will help the Lions be in a position to beat anyone they face in the regular season and beyond.

What did Purdue’s Ryan Walters and multiple PSU players have to say following the game?

“I think we had a really good taste of what we can do last week when, obviously we had a good first half,” junior offensive tackle Drew Shelton said. “The talkall week has just been, how can we sustain that for four quarters? So just knowing that, when we play games, they’re going to need to be four quarter games.”

Penn State has pushed all season to put itself in the best position possible to finally make the postseason tournament. It could not beat Ohio State a few weeks ago to fully control its own destiny. But, it’s doing the next best thing: Beating almost everyone on its schedule soundly. If it continues to do so, the praise and accolades will come. So, too, might the program’s first CFP win. Taking care of business over the final two weeks of the regular season is the first priority, though. And if we know anything about these Nittany Lions, it is that they’ll have no problem preparing properly to do so.