Heading into this afternoon’s game, it seemed Northwestern was destined to be a footnote in Penn State history. Just as Bowling Green only comes up as a trivia question (against which team did Joe Paterno earn his 200th and 300th career wins?), so too did it seem a foregone conclusion that Joe would pick up win #400 against these Wildcats.

Congratulations, Joe. You've earned it. Photo credit: AP/ESPN

On the first drive, Dan Persa looked like Denard Robinson, marching his offense down the field for a score in under 3 minutes. Penn State responded by failing to convert a 3rd and short and then a 4th and short, twice running Evan Royster up the middle for no gain, as the offensive line failed to generate any push upfront. That early, we knew it was going to be a long day.

What we might not have expected was the relative ease with which Northwestern would score another two touchdowns–and make the Penn State offense look bad–first forcing Rob Bolden into a costly sack-fumble, then making his backup, Matt McGloin, look like the unrecruited walk-on he was. The defense wasn’t doing much better–struggling to contain the slippery Persa and tackling like they did earlier in the season. And when Northwestern scored that 3rd touchdown of the first half, on a terrific catch by Drake Dunsmore, with just 50 seconds to go in the 2nd quarter, all hope was lost. Students even started to leave the stadium.

I think all of us were expecting Penn State to just run the clock out and take the 21-0 deficit into the half–that’s what Joe Paterno does–especially considering Chaz Powell couldn’t take the ensuing kickoff past the 20, and a holding penalty backed Penn State up to its own 9.  And it seemed the Lions would be content to do just that–a draw play to Evan Royster was what Galen Hall and Jay Paterno drew up.

But then, it all changed. Perhaps something clicked. Perhaps Joe realized he had nothing to lose.  A sideline toss to Derek Moye got Penn State out to the 25, and Penn State kept throwing, with a new set of downs. Still, Joe played it conservatively–a screen pass, a throw to the sideline, and, on 3rd and 3, a draw play. But that draw picked up 21 yards, and, with 18 seconds left, the 104,000 in attendance perked up. McGloin hit Zug, he hit Suhey on a wheel route, and, with 3 seconds left in the half, he hit Brett Brackett, who managed to drag his toes inbounds in the back of the end zone. Forget the two-minute drill, Penn State had just run the 50-second drill to perfection.

Momentum is a much overused term in sports, but that drive changed the tone of this game. The offense gained the confidence that they could, in fact, score, and move the ball efficiently, and the defense fed off that energy, coming out as charged up and intense as they’ve been all year. Michael Mauti was simply dominant–I hate to keep touting his ability and potential, but it’s going to be Mauti who takes the Linebacker-U torch from Sean Lee and Navorro Bowman. Devon Still looked like Jared Odrick, penetrating the interior of the line with at least one sack and a number of pressures. After a first half in which they struggled to keep the Northwestern offense from scoring at will, the unit pitched a shutout in the second half, forcing a number of three and outs.

But their efforts would’ve been all for naught were it not for the offense, which built off their last-second touchdown by reaching the end zone another four times in the second half. And while I’m proud as hell of Matt McGloin, and would never want to take anything away from him, his game was not the story of the Penn State offense. No this was about the run game–as Penn State amassed a season-high 260 yards on 46 carries. And in a couple of years, I think we’ll be talking about this game as the day we knew Silas Redd was special. With every hand-off it was another move, a shake, a spin, a juke–and at the end of the day his 131 yards on just 11 carries speak for themselves. Evan Royster was good, too, but in the shadow of Redd’s performance, his 25-carry, 134-yard afternoon seems merely pedestrian. I hate to get ahead of myself–anything can happen between now and then–but I’m not sure Evan Royster’s rushing record stands more than three years.

And when the run game gets going like that, all you ask of Matt McGloin is for him not to make mistakes. He wasn’t superb–and in the first half, until that last drive, he was absolutely horrendous–but he did what he needed to do to extend some drives, avoid turnovers, and guide Penn State to their third straight win. I’m still firmly in the Rob Bolden camp–and it’s obvious that, in the long run, he’s the far better quarterback (as soon as he can learn how to recognize a blitz, and not get himself nearly killed)–but McGloin has been one hell of a game manager these last two weeks.

It’s not always pretty–on two different deep throws, he looked about as awkward as a quarterback could, leaping in the air, fading away as he threw off his back foot (and, oddly enough, each time forcing a Northwestern pass interference penalty)–and he is prone to staring down his receivers (at least two passes should have been intercepted), but it’s not hard to see why McGloin has his supporters.  The coaching staff has a tough decision to make.

It’s funny, this game might’ve gone down as a JoePa classic even if it weren’t for the milestone win, but as the seconds ticked down, and the crowd erupted into chants of “JoePa-Terno,” well, you got that special feeling that isn’t suppoed to come in the beginning of November, in a matchup of two middle-of-the-pack teams. And not a soul left the building, as Tim Curley and Graham Spanier commemorated Joe’s career, as a video montage played on the scoreboard, as a scroll of all 400 wins rolled down the jumbotron. Perhaps overcoming that deficit–earning this game the title of biggest come-from-behind win in Penn State history–made it more meaningful, even more memorable.  And maybe Joe just has a flair for the dramatic–we all remember how Joe picked up win #324, in resilient fashion, with Zack Mills leading Penn State from behind over Ohio State.

But Joe, in typical Joe fashion, didn’t want to dwell on it. I wasn’t in the media room after the game, but I imagine his response in the private space there was the same as it was out on the field in Beaver Stadium that may one day bear his name. Taking the mic, Joe Pa didn’t have some long-winded speech. No, he thanked the crowd, thanked his players, and ended with this gem:

“Now that the celebration is over, let’s go beat the Buckeyes”

Yes, Joe. Lets.