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Since he's been at Penn State, James Franklin has pledged to enjoy the victories and not mope after a win if the Nittany Lions don't play their best game.
He had plenty of reasons to pick apart Saturday's 41-13 victory at Northwestern, but he wasn't taking the bait.
When the narrative questioned the Lions' ongoing offensive issues, Franklin tried to nip it.
"41 to 13," he said. "We won."
They did, extending their record to 5-0 and their streak of scoring 30-plus points to a nation-best 12 games.
And they did it with a second-half domination of the spunky Wildcats, who led 3-0 and 10-3 and made the Lions sweat into the third quarter.
Northwestern staged a wild comeback last week, overcoming a 31-10 fourth-quarter deficit to force overtime and beat Minnesota, 37-34.
"They used that momentum and confidence from last week and had a nice plan for us and played well early in the game," Franklin said.
Franklin, though, was calm at halftime, knowing Penn State had too much of a physical advantage defensively over the Wildcats. Even when Northwestern was winning, the outcome was truly never in doubt.
His message to the Lions was, "The first half is gone. Let's play really well in the second half."
Just as Penn State's defense outclassed Iowa last week, the Lions sacked Northwestern quarterbacks seven times, made 12 tackles for loss and knocked starter Ben Bryant out of the game.
"Our defense is unbelievable," Lion quarterback Drew Allar said.
It was just a matter of when Allar and the Lions were going to do their part.
That began to happen in the second half, which the Lions carried 31-3.
But while the defense is establishing itself as dominant -- the rest of the season (ie: Ohio State, Michigan) will define to what extent -- the offense is merely pedestrian, and it's hard to believe the Lions can achieve their goals if it doesn't get better soon.
Allar, as a first-year starter, has not been prone to the turnover. In fact, he has yet to make one, a good sign for a relatively young player.
But the run game has been disappointing. Though solid, Nick Singleton doesn't seem to have the extra gear he did as a true freshman. He's averaging less than 4.0 yards per carry after gouging defenses for 6.8 last year.
And that's despite the offensive line supposedly being better.
Singleton fumbled the opening kickoff Saturday as the special teams put the offense in a first-half hole, same as they last week against Iowa.
"Not ideal," Franklin said. "It was sloppy, and it was challenging for us to get into a rhythm."
Co-starter Kaytron Allen breaks more tackles than Singleton, but he's also averaging a yard less per carry than he did last year (5.2). Allen was hurt in the first half Saturday and didn't return.
The truth is third-teamer Trey Potts, a Williamsport native and Minnesota transfer, averages 5.5 per carry in many fewer chances, and has hit the holes quicker than any of the backs.
Part of the ineffectiveness of the run game stems from a weak wide receiving unit that's allowing opponents to gang up on the line of scrimmage.
"Obviously, there are going to be things to critique," Franklin said. "We'd like to be more explosive. I still think there's an opportunity for big plays in the run and the pass game."
With several injuries, the Lions' open date comes at a good time. They'll regroup, smooth out some kinks against UMass and then head to the season-shaper in Columbus on Oct. 21
"This isn't an open date," Franklin clarified. "We've got to use this week to get better."
He can take consolation in the fact that the Lions have an average victory margin of 31.0 points -- 25.5 if you take away Delaware -- and yet still haven't played their best offensive game.
Rudel can be reached at nrudel@altoonamirror.com.