But Penn State quarterbacks Matt Senneca and Zack Mills were determined to not let that happen.

Senneca played the best game of his career as he threw 20 of 39 for 234 yards and a touchdown pass to tailback Eric McCoo. But the redshirt junior also sneaked for two other touchdowns. Senneca fought off injuries and a 0-4 start to confidently help the Nittany Lions to their first win of the season.

"I'm just excited for this football team," coach Joe Paterno said. "To walk away from this place without a win would be very difficult to convince them they were a good football team."

And even when Senneca went down late in the fourth quarter, Mills stepped in right where he left off and led the team down the field for the game-winning touchdown.

"I have a lot of confidence in Mills," Paterno added. "He makes better decisions than Matt."

Saturday, both quarterbacks made the good decisions. They found eight receivers during the game and completed 25 of the 47 passes thrown. Mills and Senneca hit wide receiver Bryant Johnson eight times, each threw a touchdown pass to tailback Eric McCoo and confidently led the Lions as Kustok and the Wildcats kept the pressure on.

The two Lions quarterbacks also did all this without one of their main targets, Eddie Drummond. The senior was used primarily in the backfield against Northwestern, trying to confuse the Wildcats defense, adding a much-needed wrinkle to a struggling offense.

Senneca and Mills responded well, hitting alternative targets such as tight end John Gilmore five times, sophomore Tony Johnson and Omar Easy twice and Paul Jefferson, Mick Blosser and R.J. Luke each one time.

"It looked like we were hoping they would screw up," Northwestern coach Randy Walker said. "We had guys in places to make plays."

Walker added that he didn't know how long it took his team to adjust to Penn State using three players in the backfield. He said he likes when teams run that formation because they are limited in what they can do.

But Penn State found a way to take advantage of the 'Power I' formation Paterno and his staff implemented during the bye week.

Senneca and Mills weren't sacked, didn't fumble and didn't threw any interceptions. They had time to find open receivers and weren't constantly getting drilled by defensive linemen and a blitzing secondary.

The receivers ran their routes, caught a few balls and started to gain some confidence. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, the Lions were in striking distance, tied with the Wildcats at 28.

Penn State already had its highest offensive output of the season and the Lions added 10 clutch points in the final 15 minutes to steal the victory. Senneca, Mills and the entire offense stayed calm and showed some signs of confidence, which helped them in the crucial minutes.

"We wanted to win so bad," center Joe Iorio said. "There are so many people on this team that want to win."