STATE COLLEGE — Earlier this week, Penn State coach James Franklin said he wanted to see his seventh-ranked Nittany Lions take a “significant step” against the visiting UCLA Bruins.

Franklin specified penalties, which have plagued Penn State all year heading into Saturday afternoon’s matchup at Beaver Stadium, in addition to sluggish starts, as areas needing improvement.

Penn State’s 27-11 win over the Bruins in front of 110,047 fans checked some, but not all, of those boxes.

On one hand, the Nittany Lions (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) committed a season-low two penalties for only 20 yards.

But despite leading 14-3 at halftime and cruising to a comfortable win, the offense failed to produce any points until the 6-minute, 43-second mark of the second quarter.

“Overall, our starting defense held a Big Ten opponent to three points,” Franklin said. “(UCLA) scored a touchdown there late with a lot of backups in. In today’s day and age, keeping people to a field goal is difficult to do, and I thought our defense did a nice job. There’s some things we’ve got to get cleaned up … but I thought overall, we played well.”

Drew Allar was efficient, going 17 for 24 through the air with 237 yards and two total touchdowns, with 73% of Penn State’s total offense (322 yards) coming via the pass game.

Kaytron Allen handled the lion’s share of work on the ground, rushing 21 times for 78 yards and a score, and Liam Clifford led the receiving corps with three grabs for 107 yards.

The Bruins (1-4, 0-3 Big Ten), visiting Happy Valley for the first time as a Big Ten member, forced the Nittany Lions to punt on their initial two drives.

But from there, Penn State produced points on four straight drives, by which time they were up 24-3 in the third quarter.

UCLA managed a touchdown and 2-point conversion with less than a minute to play, but it was not nearly enough.

“I think when we got our rhythm going, we were hard to stop,” Allar said. “It’s just about getting into a rhythm quicker. … For us, offensively, it’s just about starting faster and I think once we got the ball rolling and were moving, we were hard to stop.”

An Allar rushing touchdown in the second quarter provided the game’s first points, capping a 16-play, 82-yard drive.

After UCLA responded with a field goal, Allar fired off three solid gains through the air of 24, 12 and 25 yards to Clifford, Julian Fleming and Harrison Wallace.

That got Penn State to the Bruins’ 8-yard line, with Allar soon finding Tyler Warren for a 5-yard score to go up 14-3 with 24 seconds left before halftime.

UCLA received the ball to begin the third quarter, but on its first two second-half drives, quarterback Justyn Martin was sacked on third down for big losses.

Martin, making his first collegiate start in place of the injured Ethan Garbers, went 22 of 30 through the air for 167 yards and a touchdown.

With the game still up for grabs in the third quarter, Penn State’s defense stepped up, holding UCLA to minus-9 yards.

“I think our third-quarter defense all year has been ridiculous — 87 yards all year on 46 plays, 1.9 yards per play — this game we held UCLA to minus-9 yards in the third quarter, so that was significant,” Franklin said.

On the Nittany Lions’ ensuing drives, Ryan Barker hit a 25-yard field goal and Allen scored from a yard, making the score 24-3 with 2:57 left before the final quarter.

Barker, taking over field-goal duties following inconsistent play from Sander Sahaydak, drilled another one, this time from 40 yards, with 8:20 left in the game for the Nittany Lions’ final points.

That handed Penn State a 27-3 lead, with the Bruins going on to mount a successful touchdown drive that consumed 7:56, leaving only seconds to play.

Facing an insurmountable 27-11 deficit, UCLA tried an onside kick with 16 seconds left but it was unsuccessful, allowing the Nittany Lions to kneel the ball and pick up the win.

“Penn State is 5-0 for the fourth straight year,” Franklin said postgame. “We’re the only school in the country to start 5-0 in each of the last four years, and it’s the first time that that’s happened in school history. Something we take a lot of pride in.”

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