EVANSTON, Ill. -- Backup junior cornerback Jesse Alfreno, who didn't play a single snap, can look back on Saturday's game at Northwestern and know his practice role helped Penn State win.
Alfreno, who played the role of Northwestern back-up quarterback Dan Persa in practice last week, saw his defense contain Persa and hold Northwestern scoreless in the second half after fifth-year senior Mike Kafka left the game in the second quarter with a leg injury.
Northwestern was ahead 10-3 and driving when Kafka was relegated to the sidelines.
"The adjustment we made is their quarterback got hurt," Penn State coach Joe Paterno said.
Kafka dinked and dunked the football through the Nittany Lions' defense and kept it honest with his feet, causing major defensive issues for the Lions' linebackers and defensive backs.
"It's very frustrating," linebacker Navorro Bowman said. "You have to worry about five guys going in passing routes and still worry about the quarterback breaking containment and things like that. You don't quit. You gotta keep playing. Teams are gonna make big plays, but at the end of the day, you gotta be the best team and the best players, and we showed what we can do today."
Paterno would concede the five- to seven-yard completions if his team tackled well, which it didn't in the first half.
As a result, Northwestern easily moved the ball between the 20s but converted two of its four red-zone chances.
"When Mike was in there, I don't think they stopped us once," Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said. "At some point there we kind of lost our momentum offensively and lost our edge and attitude, and we've got to get that back, in game. We lost our attitude, and when you lose your attitude, you lose your stinger and you lose your physicality."
All that changed when Kafka called a timeout mid-drive and checked himself out of the game.
Cue Persa, but defensive end Jerome Hayes said they practiced defending his Wildcat-look package during the week.
Paterno said the defensive line made aggressive stunts it would not have done if Kafka played. The Lions finished the game with a season-high six sacks.
Northwestern's offensive line blocked in a way that allowed Penn State's defensive line to get upfield, opening up the passing lanes underneath and giving the quarterback room to run.
Blitzing probably wouldn't have stopped Northwestern's offense early on because of how fast their quarterbacks got rid of the football.
"It changed the whole style of play that they had planned," defensive coordinator Tom Bradley said. "[Persa] doesn't have the same arsenal that [Kafka] does, and we made a couple adjustments to change up on him."
The Lions stuck an extra defensive back in most of the game, and cornerback D'Anton Lynn said the secondary had to play more aggressive to counter the quick-strike pass attack.
"The pace is so fast," Lynn said. "You can try to practice it all you want, but once you get in the game, it's totally different."
