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Penn State’s James Franklin clearly was impressed with Bowling Green on Saturday, saying that the “moment wasn’t too big for them.” And it wasn’t. The Falcons led by 10 points in the second quarter, had three cracks at reclaiming a fourth-quarter lead and forced Penn State to recover an onside kick to win this thing.

As much respect as they professed to have for Bowling Green, the No. 8 Nittany Lions still didn’t expect that. In its 34-27 victory Saturday, Penn State looked occasionally dominant, often disshevled and a bit detached (especially on defense) from its season-opening win at West Virginia. With a bye week ahead, Penn State coach James Franklin said the team must get some things “cleaned up, for sure.”

To the report card.

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OFFENSE: B

Penn State’s offense hasn’t had to answer a game-opening touchdown drive in nearly three years, which clearly caught its attention. The Nittany Lions scored touchdowns on two of their first three possessions, including a 3-play, 75-yard drive, and got huge days from their running backs and tight end. Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen turned in tandem 100-yard games for the second time in their careers and averaged 8.1 per carry together. These two are back, particuarly Singleton, who already has three carries of 40+ yards this season (he had none last year).

Penn State deployed Tyler Warren (146 yards receiving) to be the beast that he is, especially against linebackers who can’t run with him or tackle him. A few curious things, though: Penn State has been too hyper-focused on single pass-catchers in each game: Tre Wallace (nine catches) last week and Warrren (eight) this week. On Saturday, Wallace didn’t catch a pass and was targeted just three times. And with a chance to wrestle control of the game in the fourth, Penn State gained just 5 yards on two series.