The Penn St. Nittany Lions defeated the Purdue Boilermakers, 34-9, Saturday in a Big Ten Conference football game at Ross-Ade Stadium. The victory came in dominant fashion for the Nittany Lions (6-3, 4-1 Big Ten), who rebounded from last week's loss, 35-23, to the Ohio St. Buckeyes.
According to the SB Nation blog Black Shoe Diaries, the win was a nice return to normalcy.
Seven days after a loss that could have proved catastrophic, Bill O'Brien's squad bounced back and put together what's become the archetypical Penn State performance of the 2012 season: a blowout victory spurred by stout defense and dynamic, if inconsistent, bouts of offensive dominance.
Quarterback Matt McGloin led Penn State's onslaught, completing 22-of-36 passes for 321 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Zach Zwinak gained 134 yards on 21 carries, while teammate Michael Zordich scored two touchdowns.
However, it was the Nittany Lions defense that was the difference in the game.
Meanwhile, the Penn State defense had continued to do what it does--almost without fail making the open-field tackles that have to be made against the quick-passing spread offense of Purdue, shutting down all but the rarest of runs, and getting so much pressure on Robert Marve that Purdue could hardly try and test the Nittany Lion defense down the field.
Read Black Shoes Diaries' full reaction here.
Next Saturday, Penn State will travel and play the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Big Ten showdown is schedule to start at 3:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcasted on ABC.