STATE COLLEGE - Penn State is the second youngest team in all of the FBS this season. Young teams have to sometimes grind out victories and on Saturday against Temple, that's exactly what the Nittany Lions did.

An improved defensive effort and another strong passing performance from Trace McSorley were enough for Penn State to outlast Temple for a 34-27 victory.Along with the win, the story on the day was injuries.On the defensive side of the ball, the Nittany Lions were missing defensive back Grant Haley and linebackers Jason Cabinda and Brandon Bell. Also, linebacker Nyeem Wartman-White was injured during the game and did not return.Christian Campbell, Brandon Smith, Manny Bowen, and Jake Cooper all stepped up to fill the void and the result was a solid one.The Nittany Lions gave up just 37 yards rushing on the day and kept pressure on Temple quarterback Phillip Walker throughout the game."Loved how the defense handled it. It wasn't one coach, it wasn't one player that said one thing about it, it was next man up, and they went in there and battled," said Penn State head coach James Franklin. "So very proud of how they handled that, and it's something we have to continue to work on."Nittany Lions quarterback McSorley continued his strong play on the season, passing for 287 yards to register his third straight 200-plus passing yard game.Junior Chris Godwin also showed why he is one of the best wide receivers in the Big Ten, catching seven balls for 117 yards and two touchdowns. McSorley's 52-yard hook-up with Godwin over the middle got the Nittany Lions out to a 7-0 lead.Over the past few seasons, Penn State has been a slow starting team, but against the Owls, the Nittany Lions controlled the first half and came up with several explosive offensive plays. They held a 21-10 lead at intermission to get off to their best start of the season."I thought we did start out better. We had some turnovers that slowed us down later in the game and put our defense in tough spots, but I did think we started better," said Franklin. "I think that is something that we want to do. If you look statistically, it's 80-percent or higher nationally if you're winning in the first half."With any young team however, mistakes do happen, and the Owls made things interesting.The freak play of the day came on a rugby style Temple kick in the fourth quarter. The ball, which traveled in the air for about 20 yards and bounced forward, hitting Penn State's Amani Oruwariye, who was running downfield to block for returner John Reid. Temple recovered the ball at the Penn State one-yard line and later punched it in with 8:10 left in the fourth to close within three, 27-24.With the game on the line, the Nittany Lions turned to their most impactful offensive weapon in Saquon Barkley. Barkley, who was injured in the first half, came back into the game and gave Penn State a 10-point advantage with a dynamic 55-yard touchdown run with 7:10 remaining.Barkley finished with nine carries for 68 yards.The Penn State defense held the Owls to just a field goal the rest of the way. John Reid sealed the win for Penn State with an interception with about 30 seconds left.Penn State will head to Ann Arbor this Saturday to face No. 4 Michigan in the Nittany Lions conference opener.