When Austin Scott walked into Penn State's locker room at halftime Saturday, the running back wasn't happy with the way the game was going.
Scott ran the ball 11 times in the first half but was held to only 39 yards. So the senior decided to talk to his offensive linemen before the second half began.
Whatever Scott said to them, it worked. The results of that conversation unfolded clearly for everyone watching Saturday night's game -- Scott tacked on 77 more yards in the second half and scored two touchdowns.
"We came out in the second half and the offensive line kicked it in," Scott said after Saturday's win.
All week, Penn State's offensive line had prepared to face a Notre Dame defense that employed a 3-4 scheme, as it did against Georgia Tech in its season opener. The Lions' offensive line was startled to see the Irish use nickel defenses instead, center A.Q. Shipley said.
"We practiced something all week, and they came out with something a little different," Shipley said. "Once we wore them down a little bit, they started going back to the 3-4. We were able to start moving the ball a little bit."
When the running game got going, Scott wasn't the only one to pick up the slack. Senior Rodney Kinlaw also started slow -- running for only 11 yards on five carries in the first half -- but finished the game with 49 yards rushing, including a 32-yard burst on the Nittany Lions' final drive of the game.
Senior Matt Hahn also rushed for 22 yards on for carries in the second half.
"We didn't come out on fire, but we ended up on top," quarterback Anthony Morelli said. "That's all that matters."
This is the second week in a row the Lions' rushing game has started out slowly and gained speed in the second half. Penn State was held to 35 yards on the ground in the first half against Florida International, then exploded for 175 yards after halftime.
Scott acknowledged that it's been taking the offense -- particularly the running game -- a little while to warm up.
However, "once we got going, they couldn't stop the run game," Scott said.
The Irish were hit hard by Georgia Tech's running game in the season opener, giving up 259 yards on the ground, so the 164 they gave up to the Lions was an improvement. The Irish spent the week following that game working on ways to stop Penn State's running game, senior safety Tom Zbikowski said.
"We got a great defensive line that's really not gonna let them run up the middle," Zbikowski said after Saturday's game.
When Buffalo comes into Beaver Stadium Saturday, it'll bring a defense that kept Temple to minus-36 yards rushing last Saturday in a 42-7 win. But after Saturday's game, Morelli expressed confidence in Scott -- his improvement against the Irish showed that the running back can carry the ball in big situations, he said.
Still, the offense will have to be patient if it starts out slow Saturday, Morelli added.
"We have the talent; we have the offensive line to get it done," the quarterback said.
"When things went wrong, we kept our heads up and kept pushing forward."
