STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State coach James Franklin picked up a cell phone on the podium and checked the time late Saturday night.
"It's 11:23," Franklin said. "So, we have 37 minutes to enjoy this one. I'm not talking about the next opponent. I'm enjoying the heck out of this win for 37 minutes."
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No. 2 Penn State (7-0, 4-0) stayed on schedule — Franklin's schedule — with a 42-13 blowout against No. 19 Michigan (5-2, 2-2) that set up a showdown with No. 6 Ohio State (6-1, 4-0) on Saturday in Columbus.
There's a whole week to talk about that. Let's talk about the statement the Nittany Lions made in the "White Out" against the Wolverines in front of a record crowd of 110,823.
Pick a moment that defined this victory. Was it Saquon Barkley's 69-yard touchdown dash out of the Wildcat on the second play from scrimmage? Mike Gesicki's full-extension catch on the second drive? Barkley's bobbling catch that fell into his hands for another touchdown? Trace McSorley's first, second or third rushing score? There were so many big plays, and that was the difference against the Wolverines.
This will go down as a memorable "White Out" from start — which included a fireworks display — to finish. That's what had Franklin asking for the time. It's that compartmentalized focus that has the Nittany Lions on the cusp of something more than last year's Big Ten championship.
Franklin delivered a message on the bye week after watching four top-10 teams lose. He repeated that before the players went out for warmups in front of a crowd that arrived early and energized.
"Enjoy it for 30 seconds," Franklin said. "Get in that tunnel, look around for 30 seconds, get out of that tunnel, then don't ever look again and control the things that we can control. The only other time, now we're doing this flashlight thing. It's really cool, so I take to seven seconds to look around, say, ‘Awesome' then get back to focus on what we need to do."
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That cell phone flashlight moment came at 5:13 left in the third quarter, when Penn State took control of the game with a nine-play, 80-yard touchdown drive for a 28-13 lead. The crowd sang along with Neil Diamond to "Sweet Caroline" and lit up the stands. This, with the Nittany Lions still in the process of lighting up Michigan's top-ranked defense for 506 yards and eight plays of 20 yards or more.
It started on the second play from scrimmage when Barkley took a 69-yard touchdown off a direct snap in which he faked a handoff to McSorley, another wrinkle offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead installed on the bye week. By the time Michigan figured out who had the ball, Barkley was past Michigan's Josh Metellus and Devin Bush. Barkley was swimming in the end zone in McSorley's direction.
Yet Barkley was quick to point out the play he didn't make, a drop on a wheel route in the third quarter. He made the play the second time around with a bobbling catch for a 42-yard touchdown. Barkley finished with 108 rushing yards, 53 receiving yards and three total touchdowns. McSorley passed for 282 yards and rushed for 76 yards with four scores. The stars came to shine.
"Tonight kind of speaks itself," McSorley said. "We were able to put up 42 points against a great defense, a defense that was top-ranked in the Big Ten. What we're able to do was really good for us. I don't know if anybody has done that on them for the last two years. … It shows the level we can play at. That should be our standard every single week."
Penn State's offense was that good, but Franklin was quick to make another point on top of that.
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"All week long everybody was talking about their defense," Franklin said "We've got a pretty good defense, too."
That's the key for the Nittany Lions in the next two stages of the Big Ten East tour. That's on the road at Ohio State and No. 18 Michigan State. The Nittany Lions allow just 9.6 points per game. They'll need that if they really want what the student section called for during the fourth quarter.
If you want Bama, then you better have the defense to back it up.
Penn State showed they could beat an elite defense against a Michigan team that beat them 49-10 last year. The Nittany Lions returned the favor.
"Obviously last year was last year," Barkley said. "This team is different team this year, obviously. We were able to come out and show that."
Penn State seemingly has all the pieces. This isn't the second-half team that marched on to the Rose Bowl last season. This is a team that jumped out on Michigan for a quick 14-0 lead — running the season-long first-quarter total to 90-0 — and responded with a knockout when the Wolverines counter-punched.
"We're 1-0 this week," Franklin said. "That's a good opponent. A good opponent, but I'm pleased with how we're playing right now. One of the things we're doing right now I haven't been around it much, we've been playing really well in all three phases."
Penn State is doing that as well as anybody right now, but those 37 minutes are up. Bama can wait, too.
We'll need to find out if it's the Nittany Lions' time when they take on the Buckeyes.
We can't wait for that.
