No. 20 Penn State football needed a big performance from Miles Sanders on Saturday, and he certainly delivered.

The Nittany Lions’ 22-10 victory over Wisconsin on Saturday wasn’t the prettiest by any means, as the story of the game was probably Wisconsin’s offense being completely shut down by Penn State’s defense. However, Sanders was excellent throughout the game and consistently made plays on offense.

Sanders became the 26th player in program history to record 1,000 rushing yards in a single season after a 159-yard performance on the ground. He also scored a one-yard touchdown on the day — his first score since Penn State’s victory over Indiana in mid-October.

“We felt like we had some running opportunities based on our plan,” head coach James Franklin said postgame. “It was obviously really, really important for us to get the run game going.”

Franklin and starting quarterback Trace McSorley went on to praise the junior’s confidence in his role — both said that he’s become a much more confident player throughout the 2018 season, and it showed on Saturday.

Sanders pulled a new move out of his bag of tricks against Wisconsin. The plays he made jumping over defenders in the open field certainly have to be a product of his increased confidence — not many players are willing to literally jump over defenders, but Sanders did it twice.

The Pittsburgh native has also become much more comfortable in a leadership role. A lot’s been made of his excellent attitude as Saquon Barkley’s understudy, but he’s become a leader among his teammates now that he’s had the featured role for 10 games.

“His leadership has been excellent, with the O-line and everybody else on the offensive side of the ball,” Franklin said. “I’m really proud of how you never see, on our sideline, guys with bad body language or demeanor. I think Miles is a great example of that. He’s been a tremendous teammate, and he couldn’t be more positive.

“He’s just matured in so many areas from the man that we recruited.”

Franklin was very willing to rotate at the running back position early on in the season, sometimes to a fault. That wasn’t the case today — Sanders was responsible for 23 of the 26 carries by Penn State’s running back corps today, and he was phenomenal all game.

Sanders’ bounce-back performance from a dismal game against Michigan last week was much-needed — his production gave Penn State the spark it needed to take down Wisconsin at Beaver Stadium.