Momentum is such a big part of sports. There are momentum changing plays that happen throughout a game or match that can change the course of things and turn potential losses into victories.

Last Saturday night, the Nittany Lions - believe it or not - came through with more momentum boosting plays than Ohio State.We won't go into the details because by now you've watched the replay of the game on ESPN2 or ESPNU three times just to make sure what you saw really happened. You saw the blocked field goal by Marcus Allen and the 60-yard return by Grant Haley for the game-winning touchdown, so there's no need to talk about it any further (totally joking around - what a play).But in all seriousness, I said last week that the Penn State (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten East) football program had come to a fork in the road. Would it continue down the path of mediocrity or could it take the other path and use the "white out" and the home field advantage to steal a big time win? Well, we all got our answer and this was a win of epic proportions for a program that last beat a ranked opponent at the end of the 2013 season.I had a lot of people come up to me or reach out to me over the past week saying; "Well, James Franklin really saved his job with that win."I guess the quick fire response would be well yeah he did, but like I've been telling people for the last three seasons, his job was never in jeopardy any way. I'm not going to lie, I've been a pretty faithful supporter of James Franklin from the get go, which hasn't been a particular popular stance with the readers in the Times News area. But what I hope readers can now understand is that James Franklin is a good football coach.He might not represent what football fans in our area resonate with, which is that blue collar feel and approach. I know they want a coach that is going to let a player have it when he's not performing and call people out in press conferences if they make a mistake (that approach doesn't seem to be working very well for Brian Kelly).I think this victory over the No. 2 team in the country shows that there is more than one way to coach and that Franklin does it in a way with a lot of positivity and charisma that can produce results. His in game coaching has improved this season and I don't think anyone can argue his ability to recruit quality individuals and talented players. So, I think a lot of you Penn State fans out there should be happy that James Franklin "saved his job" last Saturday because I think he's doing a good job with the Nittany Lions program.Now back to my original thought, which was the momentum generated from Penn State's upset win over Ohio State last week. That momentum must not and cannot be wasted, and as my father always used to tell me "strike when the iron is hot."That's exactly what the Nittany Lions need to do this week on the road in West Lafayette, Indiana when they take on the Purdue Boilermakers (3-4, 1-3 Big Ten West). All I've been hearing all week is that this is a trap game and that Penn State can't have a letdown, so I guess I'll jump on the bandwagon and agree. Getting a young team to reign in that excitement and shift their focus to another opponent after such a big win is not an easy task, but hey I just basically backed James Franklin for President of the United States, so I have to have confidence in him do just that."Well, I think when you have a young team like we do, that's a challenge, but I thought our coaches did a great job with that on Sunday," said Franklin. "I sat in both the offensive team meeting and defensive team meeting, and I thought [offensive coordinator Joe] Moorhead reinforced the things I had already said in the team meeting. I thought [special teams] Coach [Charles] Huff did that with special teams. And I thought [defensive coordinator] Brent Pry did a great job with that in their unit meetings. Then Sunday we go out and make the corrections from the game. Before we're halfway through practice, we switch to Purdue and we were able to do that."The match-up that will decide this one in my opinion is the Penn State defense vs. the Purdue offense. Purdue is coming into the game with the No. 1 passing offense in the Big Ten. Boilermakers' quarterback David Blough has thrown for 2,065 yards (295 yards per game) this season with 14 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Purdue wide receivers DeAngelo Yancey (491 yards, 5 TDs) and Domonique Young (338 yards, 1 TD) lead the Boilermakers in receiving and are legitimate threats in the passing game.Let's go back to the momentum factor, and the Penn State defense created a ton of momentum last week, especially in the category of rushing the passer. Ohio State gave up just six sacks all season long coming into Happy Valley, but surrendered a total of six sacks (five in the second half) in the game against the "wild dogs" front of the Nittany Lions.On the season, Penn State has accumulated 22 sacks and 62 tackles for a loss. So, in short look for Penn State to carry that momentum into this week's match-up with Purdue, because if they don't get pressure on Blough he can make them pay with his arm."On offense, they throw the ball really well. They are the No. 1 team in the conference throwing the ball," said Franklin. "Kind of a controlled passing attack, medium range, short passing game. Do a really good job with those things. They have two receivers that can hurt you."A big boost to the Penn State defense last week was the return of starting linebackers Jason Cabinda and Brandon Bell. The two were originally slotted to play 25-30 plays, but because they were playing so well, they played closer to 60 plays each. It was a big reason why defensive coordinator Brent Pry dialed up the pressure against the Buckeyes and with the two of them gaining valuable reps and success last week it certainly helps with the Nittany Lions strategy to put tons of pressure on Blough. Bell finished with a career high 19 tackles, while Cabinda had 13 tackles and tied a career high with two tackles for a loss. The Nittany Lions as a unit had 11 tackles for loss in the game, which was a season-high."I don't know if you can put a number on it or a percentage on it or even kind of explain. Their leadership at practice, their energy, the way they call the defense, the way they make adjustments," said Franklin. "You see Cabinda going up and smacking the behinds of the D-Linemen when they shift the tight end or come up in a different formation. There's a lot of confidence with those guys on the field because we are able to lean on their experience."Las Vegas has Penn State as a 14-point favorite.I think you will see a heavy dose of Saquon Barkley this week. He had just 12 carries a week ago and rushed for 99 yards. The duo of quarterback Trace McSorley and Barkley will have success on the ground with Purdue giving up almost 250 yards on the ground per game to its opponents.Look for a big offensive performance from the Nittany Lions today (Noon ET, ABC or ESPN 2). My pick is Penn State 40, Purdue 21.