Penn State has plenty to correct but also a lot to hang its hat on following Saturday’s 22-10 win over Wisconsin.

The victory moved the Lions to 7-3, and almost assures them of earning one of the Big Ten’s warm-weather bowls, even if it won’t be a coveted New Year’s Six bowl, barring craziness across college football.

Still, a conference win is a conference win in college football, and head coach James Franklin’s team earned it on a blustery day at Beaver Stadium. Below is a look at the good, bad, and the ugly

The good

Penn State has had tremendous struggles since the start of October in time of possession, which has left its defense on the field for an extraordinary number of snaps which has helped lead to some late game letdowns.

That wasn’t the case against Paul Chryst’s Badgers, though, as the Lions held the ball for nearly eight more minutes than their opponent while converting six of 15 third down tries compared to the Badgers’ four of 15 effort. In a game where Wisconsin wanted to control the ball, Penn State took it out of its element, which was a big plus on the road to victory.

The Lions also won all of their key stat categories, outlined as follows:

Turnovers: PSU 2, Wisconsin 4

Explosive plays: PSU 10, Wisconsin 6

Penalties: Wisconsin 6, Penn State 3

Penn State also had the better field position for most of the game and certainly overall, and it was able to get back Miles Sanders on track for the first time in some time, as he finished with 159 yards and averaged almost seven yards per carry, which was a very good sign.

The special teams unit also deserves a shout out in this section, as it made no costly mistakes, Jake Pinegar was good enough on a tough day for kicking to give his team plenty of cushion including a 49-yard field goal that tied a career high, and a successfully executed fake punt equaled three points.

Defensively, it was a nice story for Robert Windsor, as the Wisconsin native netted two sacks in the win, and end Yetur Gross-Matos continues to play terrific football, as he finished with five tackles and a sack while position mate Shareef Miller had two tackles for loss as Brent Pry’s unit forced four turnovers and recorded five sacks. Kudos to safety Nick Scott, too, who grabbed the game-ending interception and was aware enough to go down instead of returning it and potentially running into disaster.

There was a lot of elite play from all corners of the field in this win, which can’t be said about all the victories that have come before it.

The bad

Not a whole lot to fill this space with, though the inability to finish drives which led to too many field goal kicks on a bad day for them was not ideal. Penn State having 32 fourth-quarter yards was not a positive sign, either, as it represented another failed chance to end the game on its terms, even though it ultimately did not matter.

Two plays the team surely wants back did not hurt them, but C.J. Thorpe’s kick return that lasted too long resulted in a fumble that the Lions were fortunate to recover but could have swung the game if they did not. It’s more difficult to nitpick Miller’s interception return that ultimately led to a fumble that Wisconsin recovered, which ripped first and 10 inside the red zone away from the Lions. Another ball security issue surfaced when Miles Sanders had it ripped out of his arms inside the Wisconsin five, but replay review overturned the call. Penn State could not punch it into the end zone anyway, though, and settled for a field goal.

More rhythm on offense would have been beneficial, but it didn’t cost anything in the end, even if it continued a troubling trend.

The ugly

Penn State’s fourth quarter fumble after Tommy Stevens and Miles Sanders had a motion problem that resulted in a turnover led to more heart-pounding moments than were needed for the Nittany Lion faithful.

It’s hard to come up with too many other worries to throw in here, though. Trace McSorley going down with injury again was of course something nobody wanted to see, but he was able to bounce back.