STATE COLLEGE — There’s a scene in the movie Miracle, the Disney interpretation of the story behind legendary hockey coach Herb Brooks’ construction and leadership of the 1980 U.S. men’s ice hockey team, in which players sit around an old movie projector, watching film of the Soviet juggernaut they’d later go on to beat in the semifinal round of the Lake Placid Olympics.

Knowing his players would be heavy underdogs, Brooks — played by Kurt Russell — raves about the Soviets’ style. Creative. Relentless. Effective. Intimidating. Individually, he points out, they can’t match their talent. But as a group, he concludes, there’s a way to beat that approach.

You don’t try to react to it. You attack it.

So, on Saturday night in front of a record crowd at raucous Beaver Stadium, Penn State went about attacking the creative, relentless, effective and intimidating Michigan defense. And by the time the clock expired, the No. 2-ranked Nittany Lions had posted by any account its most impressive win of the season, a 42-13 shellacking of the Wolverines and a defense that hadn’t seen the types of lofty numbers Penn State amassed against them in quite some time.

“That’s a defense that hasn’t given up any yards and any points to, really, anybody,” Penn State coach James Franklin said.

And, in the end, Penn State amassed 506 total yards against the vaunted Michigan defense that entered the game ranked first overall in the nation in total defense.

How did the Nittany Lions do it? Well, it goes back to a promise Franklin made off-hand during his postgame press conference after a 31-7 win over Northwestern on Oct. 7 at Ryan Field. Penn State, he promised, had saved some special plays for use in the second half, against the more-established defenses the Nittany Lions were set to face.

Michigan saw some of that for the first time Saturday night.

One, for example: Penn State had started offensive formations in empty sets, but it had always run a running back — notably Saquon Barkley — into the backfield alongside quarterback Trace McSorley. Against Michigan, they stayed in empty, which helped disguise where Barkley was going to be at the snap better than they had in the first half.

Michigan had some trouble staying with him, determining which defender would pick him up when he went in motion. Stay in that static empty set, Franklin said, and Penn State felt it could get some more matchups where a linebacker would have to pick up Barkley, a mismatch that would create some big plays — which it did on Barkley’s 42-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter, on which he burned Michigan’s Mike McCray up the sideline.

“That’s what they showed on film and what we were able to do (Saturday),” Franklin said.

Penn State also took advantage of a matchup against a young, aggressive Michigan defensive backfield, with McSorley consistently able to loft fade passes to seniors DaeSean Hamilton and Mike Gesicki over the Wolverines corners.

Hamilton and Gesicki combined for eight catches and 167 yards.

“They have great athletes. They have a great defensive scheme and great players,” Gesicki said. “We knew it would be a competitive atmosphere against them in those coverages. But, the work we put in, we were pretty confident we’d defeat man coverage. And, we did so.”

Beating man coverage as much as they did helped the Nittany Lions do something else: Victimize Michigan’s adjustment to that play.

To take that play away, Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown had safeties Tyree Kinnel and Josh Metellus split further toward the sideline. That opened up the slant route for Hamilton, who broke a few big catch-and-runs in the second half by taking advantage of the newly open middle of the field.

“I hit a few inside fades on them, so they started pressing me more,” Hamilton said. “They were just at least trying to slow down the timing and the connection of getting the ball downfield to that exact spot. Once we saw that, I was able to fake as if I was going to run the inside fade and that opened up the inside more.”

The culmination of all of that showed what Franklin said he considers one of the true underrated aspects of the nation’s second-ranked team. It’s a veteran group, he said. One that knows how to watch film during the week, understand what they are seeing, then make adjustments on the fly during the game.

Perhaps, he said, that will help them keep the wrinkles coming. He’s not exactly hiding the fact that Nittany Lions offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead had a few more in his bag that he didn’t pull out for the Wolverines.

“We have a mature football team, and they can recall on previous experience,” Franklin said. “There are also some things that (coaches) are trying to save for the second half of the season, so we can have a little more variety in the game plan when we need it.”