You probably don't need statistics to know that Penn State Nittany Lions football's 16-10 win over Wisconsin on Saturday was among the more physically challenging games for a Nittany Lion defense in recent memory, but let's examine some numbers anyway.
The 96 snaps Penn State's defense played were the most since October, 2018, against Indiana.
The 41 minutes spent on the field by the Penn State defense marked the most since a game against Buffalo — yes, Buffalo — early in the 2019 season.
The 58 rushing attempts Penn State faced have been exceeded only once in head coach James Franklin's tenure.
Surely, then, the Nittany Lions must have been feeling the lingering effects of such a physical battle after the game, and early this week as they look toward Ball State, right?
If they were, they weren't showing it.
"Shoot, I love it," Penn State corner Joey Porter Jr., who played 84 snaps, said. "I did backflips after the game, that's how much energy I had."
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It was, in its totality, a performance befitting a group with a warrior's mindset.
The Nittany Lions made not one — but two — late stands with the game on the line when they should have been at their most fatigued. They frequently bent but they did not break.
Senior linebacker Ellis Brooks chose to lean into the game's physicality, rather than shy away from it, and it appears the rest of the group followed suit.
"That was meant to be body shots," Brooks said of Wisconsin's rushing attack, "to wear us down on defense, to get us to play more timid, not be behind our pads like how we were playing all game. At the end of the day, we love ball, that's what we love doing. They want to get physical, we can get physical right back."
Even if Saturday's grueling affair did take its toll, the Nittany Lion defense isn't about to acknowledge that after the fact.
Pointing toward the efforts of strength and conditioning guru Dwight Galt, Porter Jr. was matter-of-fact in his response when asked about the impact a game like that can have.
"If we have to play those snaps, we're going to play them," he said. "I feel like everybody on the defense was energized and well conditioned, that's what we really worked on this offseason and improved, just to be able to play that many snaps and be that locked in for that many plays, I feel like it was amazing, and we're ready for it."
So, what — if anything — changed from a recovery standpoint this week as the Nittany Lions transition toward Week Two?
Not much. The Nittany Lions intend to abide by their process.
"There's nothing different," safety Ji'Ayir Brown said. "Some days you're going to go in and play 90 snaps, some days you're going to go in and play 50. The routine after the game is always the same. We try to stay on the same routine throughout the year, that way we can hold ourselves accountable to getting proper treatment and proper recovery, and the hot tub and cold tub as well, just taking care of our bodies and taking care of our business. Nothing really changes as far as the approach this week."
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