Senior Day could not have been better for 15 Nittany Lions who, for the last time in their careers, were running through the tunnel into Beaver Stadium, where Penn State upset Michigan State, 37-13, Saturday.

Senior quarterback Zack Mills, maligned earlier this year as the Lions struggled through their Big Ten schedule, closed out his career in fitting fashion—running for two touchdowns and passing for one to add his name to the Penn State record books for the 18th time. Senior place-kicker Robbie Gould, who had missed six of 10 field goal attempts this season, was perfect on three three-pointers and four extra points. Senior safety Andrew Guman, who suffered a partially collapsed lung at Ohio State and missed the last two games, helped lead the defense with 10 tackles to finish third on the team with 67 stops this season.

Other classmates also contributed to the shellacking the Nittany Lions administered to the team that had itself shellacked conference leader and fifth-ranked Wisconsin, 49-14, a week earlier, after walloping Minnesota, 51-17, then losing games it had a good chance to win against Michigan and Ohio State.

Penn State did it with a with a third-quarter avalanche of 28 points that overcame a 6-3 halftime deficit and routed three Spartan quarterbacks, while resulting in more points than the Lions had scored in any complete Big Ten game this fall.

For the 11th time this year the stalwart Penn State defense held its opponent below its per-game average in points and yardage and maintained its standing among the top eleven in the nation in total defense, pass defense and scoring defense. One of only two teams in the country to prevent any opponent from scoring more than 21 points, the Lion “D” held the Spartans 17.2 points and 120 yards below their averages.

Posting back-to-back wins for the first time in two years, the Lions finished the season with a 4-7 record but a great late season turnaround. Their final 2-6 slate in the Big Ten lodged them in ninth place in the conference standings for the second year in a row. But unlike last year, when they were blown out, 41-10, in the season finale at Michigan State to finish the worst season in Penn State history, winning this year’s final two contests gives them momentum to build on next fall.

Sensing a major turnaround for the Nittany Lions and reflecting the feeling of many Penn Staters about the football future, Assistant Coach Jay Paterno noted that many years from now we may look back on last week’s goal-line stand at Indiana as four of the most important plays in Penn State’s history. Attitude, confidence and momentum are important keys to success in any program, he indicated.

“We know how close we are to having something special,” Paterno the younger said. “And we’re so appreciative of the fans,” he added. “Where else could you have a record like this and still have 100,000 coming out to support you?”

Nine of the eleven starters on each side of the ball return next fall; an excellent crop of red-shirt freshman will move up from the scout team; and several outstanding prospects have already made verbal commitments to come to Penn State next year.

“We started next season today,” declared linebacker Dan Connor, who had a phenomenal freshman season and finished second, behind sophomore Paul Posluszny, in total tackles with 85.

“We made a statement for next year,” said outstanding junior cornerback Alan Zemaitis. “We came together as a team, and that performance will carry over.”

Though the weather was damp and drizzling in Beaver Stadium Saturday afternoon, the sun was shining in the faces of the players who hoisted the Land Grant Trophy, and in the tunnel where high-fives were exchanged between fans and players, and in the locker room where the post-game celebration rivaled that after a bowl victory.

“To go into that stadium for the last time and get a win like we did and come out in the second half with a big drive and get some turnovers and convert them – that’s just something I won’t forget,” said Zack Mills in the post-game press conference.

“This is the place I have loved growing up, and to know that I’m not going to be around as a player gets really emotional,” said Andrew Guman, who claimed the defense got a reputation this season that he hopes will carry through for years to come.

The defense that Guman helped lead kept the Lions in the game through the first half, stopping the Spartans’ opening drive on the two-yard line and forcing them to settle for a field goal. The visitors’ second drive toward paydirt was thwarted by cornerback Anwar Phillips, who stepped in front of Michigan State tight end Jason Randall in the end zone, tipped the pass thrown by Drew Stanton, then cradled it as he slipped to the turf with the interception.

The Lion offense regained field position, and pinned the Spartans on their one-yard line, when Gould lined up for a field goal but pooch punted instead. After Calvin Lowry returned the visitors’ ensuing punt 17 yards to the MS-30, Penn State got on the board with a 47-yard field goal by Gould.

Michigan State responded with a quick drive that got to the PS-35, where Kyle Brown grabbed a 22-yard Stanton pass just five seconds before halftime. Dave Rayner booted a 52-yard field goal on the last play of the half.

But after the marching Blue Band put on a spectacular performance honoring Penn State’s Sesquicentennial, marking 150 years of service to the Commonwealth and nation, momentum switched to the home team.

Building upon the two long scoring drives it mounted at Indiana, the Lion offense took the second half kickoff 75 yards in 12 plays, then capitalized on opportunities created by the defense and special teams. Mills rushed for big gains on quarterback keepers and passed to Matt Hahn for 12 yards and Mark Rubin for 18, before Tony Hunt blasted up the middle for the final two yards to cap the long drive with the game’s first touchdown.

Two plays later, defensive end Tamba Hali jumped up and picked off an attempted screen pass and returned the ball five yards to the MS-8. On the first play, Mills raced around left end and dove to reach the ball just inside the pylon, and Penn State’s lead grew to 17-6.

Three possessions later Stanton had gone out of the game with an injury and was replaced by Damon Dowdell. Posluszny intercepted Dowdell’s second pass and returned it 17 yards to the MS-10. On the first play, Mills ran untouched on a quarterback draw up the middle to the end zone.

But the onslaught wasn’t over yet.

Four plays later Donnie Johnson dashed in from the left side for his second punt block of the season, and the home team had the ball again on the MS-22. Tony Hunt rushed for 16 yards on three plays, and Mills tossed a fade pass to Michael Robinson in the back right corner of the end zone for a six-yard TD. Robby made a great catch with the defender in his face and dragged a foot inbounds on his way down.

With four touchdowns in a span of just eight and a half minutes, the Lions had amassed more than twice as many points as the Spartans did yards (13) in the third quarter.

“I could have played that third quarter forever,” defensive coordinator Tom Bradley told the media after the game.

“I wish the third quarter had never ended,” said Mills. “It was a perfect scenario.”

Actually, before it did end, the Lions got their third interception in Michigan State’s five possessions, when Lowry leaped high to haul in an overthrow by MSU’s third quarterback, Stephen Reaves, at the PS-47. This led to the first of two Gould field goals in the fourth quarter, which were sandwiched around the Spartans’ only touchdown – a fourth-down 12-yard pass from Reaves to Jerramy Scott.

So the team that scored 37 points against Big Ten champion Michigan and beat Minnesota by 34 points and Wisconsin by 35 lost by 24 to a team that had been beaten by both the Gophers and Badgers. Indicative of how Big Ten teams just keep knocking each other out of the national spotlight.

“They were more fired up than we were,” said Spartan Stephen Reaves. “When you start getting a lot of good series going that really fuels the emotions.”

The Nittany Lions were emotional all week in practice, as was Coach Joe Paterno, several players said. Joe had the team working out in pads through Thursday, they said. He even donned pads himself and demonstrated how the Lions should defend Michigan State’s rocket screens.

“We saw Joe’s emotions this week,” said Mills. “He said he was proud of this team – we never quit and we stuck together.”

For some undecipherable reason, several media outlets that don’t normally cover Penn State’s games had photographers in the stadium snapping shots of Joe, thinking that he might announce his retirement after this game.

When an ESPN2 TV announcer had the temerity to broach the subject on the field after the game, Paterno retorted, “What do you mean, ‘What are my plans?’ I’m gonna be a TV commentator in between my coaching games. I’m gonna coach for crying out loud – because I like to coach. It’s fun preparing and fun competing. I’d rather be doing this than cutting grass.”