Here are three things we learned about the Penn State game, two questions we have moving forward and one bold prediction about the future as the Wildcats prepare to host Howard for homecoming on Saturday.

1. David Braun wants to be in Evanston for a while

For the first time since taking over as the interim head coach, David Braun sounded like a man who was confident he would be leading the program beyond just the 2023 season.

Penn State and Northwestern isn't much of a rivalry. There isn't too much bad blood between the two teams historically, but Penn State head coach James Franklin's comments leading up to the game injected some extra fire into the Northwestern locker room.

Franklin told the media that he had the Nittany Lions practicing without music this week to prepare to play at what he anticipated would be a sleepy Ryan Field. NU didn't say much about the comments during the week, but after the game Braun was asked and he fired back at Franklin a little.

"I saw a group of energized fans in that first half," he said. "And I see a football program that's trending in the right direction. A new stadium on the way. A lot of awesome stuff to get behind. I look forward to inviting Coach Franklin and Penn State back into Ryan Field and see what type of environment we can create for him the next time he's here."

The fire from Braun is notable, but even more notable is his mention of welcoming Franklin and PSU to the new Ryan Field. With a two-year renovation in the near future, in order for Braun to welcome anyone back to Ryan Field he would have to get the full-time job.

His confidence is warranted; Northwestern is coming off a win against Minnesota and an outstanding effort against one of the best teams in the country the last two weeks. The team clearly seems to be trending in the right direction with Braun at the helm, and he unequivocally has the support of the players in the locker room.

Braun is still finding his way as a head coach, as evidenced by a pair of questionable fourth-down calls in the third quarter, but he is absolutely the leader in the clubhouse for the full-time job at this juncture. And he's starting to act like it.

2. The offensive line still has a lot of work to do

Penn State could have the best defense in the country. Everyone knew Northwestern's offense had their work cut out for them going into Saturday, but their performance still left something to be desired.

Northwestern was clearly outmatched by the Nittany Lions at the line of scrimmage. Northwestern quarterbacks were sacked a whopping seven times, and Northwestern mustered only 42 rushing yards while getting tackled behind the line 12 times. Granted, the sack yardage didn't do any favors to the rushing numbers, but Cam Porter managed a meager 2.6 yards per carry.

When the offensive line was able to give Ben Bryant time, he looked pretty comfortable, finding holes in the Penn State defense and moving the chains. He just rarely had any time before a PSU defensive lineman was about to take his head off.

It was disappointing after the offensive line performed so well against Minnesota, giving Bryant all the time he needed to slice up the Gopher secondary. Some of that can be chalked up to the depth of NFL talent that Penn State has up front, but allowing seven sacks and getting no push in the running game is not a way to win a game against any level of competition.

Northwestern's offense isn't good enough to be one-dimensional, so the improvement of the offensive line to allow the Cats to run the ball and give the quarterback time to throw will be paramount to finding success over the final seven games.

3. Northwestern is getting better

The score on Saturday didn't indicate how well Northwestern performed. The Cats came flying out of the gate, forcing a fumble on the opening kickoff, which led to an early 3-0 lead.

One of the best efforts in years by the Wildcat defense kept Penn State at bay until Northwestern's offense found some life in the second quarter, and took a 10-3 lead on a Bryant sneak. Penn State took advantage of some short fields, and unnecessarily ran up the score in the final two minutes, to turn a 10-10 halftime tie into a 28-point final margin, but NU played one of their better games of the year.

No one would have seen a game like Saturday coming at the beginning of the month. The Northwestern team that gave sixth-ranked Penn State all they could handle for the better part of three quarters was almost unrecognizable from the group that found themselves down 24-0 to Rutgers to open the season.

Most teams get better as the year goes on, but that hasn't been the case for the Wildcats the last two seasons. In 2021, NU started 3-3 before the wheels fell off and they dropped their final six contests. Last season, NU started the season with their best performance of the year, beating Nebraska in Ireland before losing 11 straight, culminating in maybe NU's worst showing of the year, a 41-3 beatdown at the hands of Illinois.

The six new coaches on staff in Evanston have clearly made an impact. They have successfully identified areas where Northwestern could improve after each week and made changes to get the issues at least somewhat corrected. The players are responding to their new coaches, too. It's only been five games and anything can happen, but the improvement from Northwestern over the first month of the season has to be creating optimism about where the 2023 season could end up in Evanston.

1. How is Ben Bryant's shoulder?

Northwestern needs its starting quarterback. That much became clear on Saturday.

Bryant was battered and beaten all day by the Penn State defensive line, and eventually his day ended early when he left the game with an apparent shoulder injury early in the fourth quarter after being slammed into the Ryan Field turf on a sack.

After Bryant left the game, backup Brendan Sullivan came in, but didn't inspire much confidence in the offense's outlook under his guidance. NU didn't score on any of Sullivan's three drives. The first was a three-and-out that featured a dropped snap; the second ended in an ugly interception where Sullivan hit a stationary defender right between the numbers; and the third ended when Northwestern opted to let the clock expire.

Sullivan deserves some grace for being thrown into the fire against an elite defense, but the reason the coaching staff has stuck with Bryant at every turn became evident. The veteran Bryant is just much more comfortable and confident than the younger Sullivan at this moment in their careers.

Whether or not Bryant can play next week against Howard remains to be seen. Bryant seemed to be in quite a bit of pain and stayed down for a while after the hit, but after the game Braun said there's no concern of a long-term injury for his quarterback.

With a bye week coming up after Howard, there's a chance NU is cautious with Bryant and attempts to give him a two-week rest to be as close to full-strength for the back half of the season. Either way, Bryant's health is the biggest storyline affecting Northwestern's outlook as they approach the remainder of 2023.

2. How can Northwestern get their playmakers more involved?

Maybe the best play of the day for Northwestern offensively was Cam Porter turning a dump-off into a 17-yard gain to convert a third-and-16 on Northwestern's touchdown drive in the second quarter.

The offense needed more of that. Porter only carried the ball seven times and added two catches. Bryce Kirtz only caught three passes after catching 10 for 215 a week ago. The dynamic AJ Henning only caught one screen that was doomed from the start. Even Inspector Gadget himself, Jack Lausch, only carried the ball once, despite lining up all over the field. The only player Northwestern was able to consistently get the ball to was Cam Johnson. The senior receiver finished with six catches for 81 yards and showed impressive ability to create yards after the catch.

It doesn't always have to be creative, as Porter showed, but Northwestern has to get the ball to their playmakers in order to get the offense out of neutral. A combined 13 touches for Porter, Kirtz and Henning just isn't going to cut it.

This offense is never going to be terribly explosive, but there's enough talent for the unit to be much better than what was on display against Penn State. Offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian just has to find ways to get his playmakers the ball consistently.

AJ Henning will return a kick or punt for a touchdown.

Henning was extremely under-utilized in the Northwestern offense, but he still made his presence felt on special teams. He had a 36-yard kickoff return that was one broken tackle away from going the distance. He followed that up with a 15-yard punt return to set Northwestern up with good field position.

Henning came to Evanston with a reputation as an electric return man after his career at Michigan. He returned both a kick and punt for score during his career in Ann Arbor, while averaging over 23 yards per kick return. He was named All-Big Ten in each of the last two season as a return man.

Northwestern hasn't had much of anything in the return department since before Solomon Vault's knee injury. That was seven years ago. Henning is a big-time playmaker in the return game, and Braun has been clear that the returners have the green light to try and make a play.

Henning has gotten more aggressive taking the ball out as the year has gone on, and based on how explosive he looked on Saturday, it's only a matter of time until he breaks one all the way.