Penn State’s defense did a great job of putting Pitt in seemingly impossible situations Saturday in the final meeting between the two in-state rivals. The Panthers, in turn, did great job of squirming out of them. But the Nittany Lions outlasted Pitt in the end, batting down a pass in the end zone to escape with a 17-10 victory at Beaver Stadium.

The Panthers converted on fourth-and-12 earlier on their final drive and had reached the Penn State 26-yard line with 5 seconds remaining. But Kenny Pickett’s pass into the back of the end zone fell incomplete, and the Nittany Lions prevailed for their third win the four-game resumption of the historic rivalry.

“I though the four-game series was great, very competitive,” coach James Franklin said. “That first game [in 2016 was competitive], and this last game was very competitive as well. We’re happy to be 3-1 in this series and we’re happy to be 1-0 [this week].”

Matched up against a Power Five defense for the first time this season, the Lions weren’t able to develop much consistency on offense. Pitt ran more plays than Penn State (76 to 62), gained more first downs (20 to 17) and had more yards (396 to 389). The one statistical battle that the Lions won was on the scoreboard. That’ll do.

Here’s a look at the good and the bad:

THE GOOD

• The Lions’ fourth-quarter goal line stand will be the moment from this game that everyone remembers. On three plays from the 1-yard line, Pitt couldn’t get an inch, and then Alex Kessman hit the upright on a chip-shot field goal, preserving Penn State’s seven-point lead.

Pickett ended up having a tremendous game, hitting 35 of 51 passes for 372 yards. But the Panthers weren’t able to do what they like to do best, which is to run the ball. They gained only 24 yards on the ground, averaging just 1 yard per carry. Credit the Lions’ defensive tackle rotation, which dominated Pitt’s rebuilt offensive front, as well as linebacker Micah Parsons, who finished with nine stops.

“We stopped the run all night long,” Franklin said. “I thought that was really important, because that’s the style of play that they want to play.”

• The Lions continue to find ways of keeping all four of their running backs busy. On Saturday, Journey Brown made his first career start and produced the biggest rushing play of the afternoon, rambling 85 yards to set up Penn State’s first touchdown. Late in the second quarter, Ricky Slade caught a 40-yard pass to set up a field goal. And in the third quarter, Noah Cain carried six times for 40 yards on one possession, finishing off the drive with a 13-yard touchdown burst. He also had a 13-yard reception on that drive for a first down.

Brown finished as the game’s top rusher with 109 yards on only 10 carries.

“We’ve got confidence in all four backs,” Franklin said. “All four backs did some really good things. The things that jump out in my mind: Journey Brown over 100 yards, Ricky Slade on the big pass play on the angle route and Noah Cain as well. We’ve got a bunch of guys doing some really good things.”

• Jordan Stout just keeps on getting better. He tied a school record a few weeks ago with a 53-yard field goal vs. Idaho, and against Pitt, he broke it with a 57-yarder to close the first half. It had seemed as though the Lions had squandered a scoring opportunity when Sean Clifford was sacked on third down, pushing Penn State back to the 39-yard line, but Franklin showed some faith in his new kicker, and that faith was rewarded.

THE BAD

• There had been concerns going into the season about Penn State’s pass protection. After watching Pitt batter Clifford, it appears that those concerns were not unwarranted. Clifford was sacked three times, and he was hit on several occasions even when he was able to get rid of the ball.

Pitt has been great so far this season at generating pressure. The Panthers were among the national leaders in sacks through two games with nine. So whether Penn State’s protection problems were specific to this game or are a red flag heading into the conference season remains to be seen. One certainty is that the Lions will see a number of upcoming opponents that use similar approaches to Pitt.

“We knew going in that they had a defensive tackle who we thought could be a problem,” Franklin said. “The other thing is, they were very aggressive in their blitz game and how they attacked our running backs. We had some conversations at halftime that we thought could help move the pocket, help do some things that we like to do in terms of releasing the back. … Or even the screen game, which continues to be a problem for our defense and needs to be a bigger part of our offense. Those are the things we discussed at halftime.”

• Penn State finished with only three sacks even though Pitt was relying almost entirely on its passing game to generate offense. Not good enough, Franklin said.

“We’ve got to get to the quarterback more consistently,” he said. “We came into the season really feeling like that was going to be a strength of ours and it hasn’t necessarily shown up that way. We’ll study that, and make sure we’re doing the things that we think we’ve got the guys to do. But we haven’t gotten the pressure that we think we should get.”

• Penn State committed only three penalties, but one of them – a defensive holding call on John Reid in the second quarter – proved to be very costly. It allowed Pitt to convert a third-and-8 and eventually score its first touchdown of the afternoon. Reid was also flagged for pass interference on another third-and-long early in the third quarter. Ordinarily, three penalties would constitute a pretty good day, but Franklin wasn’t feeling very positive about the Lions’ performance in that department on Saturday. “I’ll probably avoid that subject,” he said.

LOOKING AHEAD

For Penn State, the immediate future holds an off-week. That might seem like a nice perk heading into the Big Ten season, but their next opponent, Maryland, is also off next Saturday.

The Terrapins had been one of the surprise success stories of the young season. They skyrocketed into the Associated Press poll last week after a 63-20 wipeout of then-No. 21 Syracuse. Following that victory, the Terps were fourth in the Football Bowl Subdivision in both total offense (636.5 ypg) and rushing offense (335.5 ypg) and were leading the nation in scoring at 71 points per game.

That momentum dissipated at Temple on Saturday. After scoring 42 points in the first half vs. the Orange, they managed only two against the Owls, and those points were provided by the defense on a safety. Temple won, 20-17, holding the Terps to 340 yards.

But while some of the shine is off of the Terps’ young season, the Lions aren’t likely to go into that game feeling overconfident after a narrow escape vs. Pitt – especially given that it’s going to be a Friday night game in College Park and that the crowd is going to be tuned up to greet the Terps’ border rival.

For now, Franklin is focused on making the most of the days to come. “We’ve got to go into the bye week and take advantage of it. We’ve got to have a really good plan for the bye week,” he said. “We’ve got to take the next step. It’s going to be important that we handle this week the right way.”