Penn State football had an attainable task this afternoon: defeat UCLA. The Nittany Lions’ defense had an arguably easier task: stop UCLA’s offense.

Both happened, and the No. 7-ranked Nittany Lions won 27-11 with relative ease.

The Nittany Lions were up against an overhauled UCLA coaching staff which included Eric Bieniemy, its new offensive coordinator fresh off a one-year stint in the same position with the Washington Commanders. The Bruins averaged 14.75 points coming into today’s game, with 262 yards per game, and just three touchdowns.

Today, UCLA had 260 yards, a field goal, and one touchdown with 16 seconds left in the game with the defense’s backups on the field and Beaver Stadium at least half-empty. Bieniemy and the Bruins had their moments early on, but the Nittany Lions gradually got the best of them.

UCLA had the ball for 10 minutes in the first quarter and nearly scored a touchdown on its first drive. James Franklin said he wanted Penn State to start faster, but he wound up satisfied with what transpired the rest of the afternoon.

The defense was lights-out in the third quarter as it held the Bruins to -9 total yards and -14 rushing yards. The good third-quarter defense typically comes after adjustments are made based on what the coaching staff sees.

“You get a good feel for who they are, you get them settled down, you make some adjustments. I think that’s the biggest reason why we’ve been able to play really good third-quarter football,” Franklin said.

The Nittany Lions had expectations of what was coming, but they didn’t know what sophomore quarterback Justyn Martin, who was in for an injured Ethan Garbers, would bring to the table. The former four-star recruit had only played sporadically in four games over his two-year college career.

“We expected it to be a vertical pass game,” cornerback Jalen Kimber said. “The backup [quarterback] was in. We didn’t know who was going to play, so they came out with these things that we weren’t kind of expecting, but we made adjustments.”

Martin had a decent outing in the air, completing 73% of his passes for 167 yards and a touchdown, but had -9 rushing yards. He relied heavily on running back T.J. Harden, who had 59 receiving yards but just 26 rushing yards, one of his career lows. Jalen Berger and Kaden Jones each played significantly but only had 38 yards each.

“I feel like we did a good job. We had a game plan for everybody,” Kimber said. “We knew they were gonna use a back.”

Penn State’s run defense once again shined. It has now held Big Ten opponents to less than 100 rushing yards for four consecutive games and 15 of the last 16 matchups.

“I knew they were going to test us a lot with their running backs,” linebacker Tony Rojas said. “Their running backs have speed. I thought there could’ve been a mismatch but it didn’t really go that way.”

However, there were some tough moments when the defense bent but didn’t break. UCLA’s first drive went all the way to Penn State’s 23-yard line before Zakee Wheatley tackled Harden for a 1-yard loss on 4th-and-1. The Bruins got all the way to the 7-yard line in the second quarter and kicked a field goal, a drive that included a 53-yard gain by Harden. Then, they got to the 12 before Martin threw an incompletion on fourth down.

But still, the defense was resilient throughout the game. The Nittany Lions got to Martin with a sack and four hurries. Meanwhile, UCLA suffered a whopping seven tackles for loss and three pass breakups.

“I think it starts with the coaches. Starts with how we practice,” Wheatley said. “All the time throughout the game. Everybody’s on the same level. Everybody on the same energy. We know we can’t afford anything, so we got a stop when we needed.”