Evanston, Ill. — That huge gust of wind that blew through Northwestern's Ryan Field on Saturday wasn't the traditional blast of air that usually pelts the Chicago suburb of Evanston.

No, it was the collective sigh of relief that came from the Penn State football family.

In breathtaking fashion, the Nittany Lions (1-4) squeaked past Northwestern (4-2), 38-35, to alleviate (albeit, temporarily) a tremendous amount of pressure on their storied program.

The win finally gives coach Joe Paterno that oh-so elusive 323rd win to tie Alabama's Paul "Bear" Bryant for the most victories in NCAA Div. I-A history.

But more importantly, and this is according to Paterno himself, this win should give a huge boost of confidence to a group of players that has worked entirely too hard to begin this season with four straight losses.

"I feel great for the kids," Paterno said. "They've worked hard. What they needed to do, they did today. They needed to make some big plays in the clutch and they did it.

"I thought they grew up all day and I've seen signs of that all year."

Notice Paterno's emphasis on the word "they". This was indeed a complete team effort. You'd be hard pressed to pick on any player for his performance. Even the second teamers (and one key backup in particular) came through when called upon.

"All the credit goes to them," Northwestern coach Randy Walker said. "They took the football game to us. It's a great win for their program and for Coach Paterno."

Undaunted by a 14-7 lead by Northwestern, the pesky Lions marched right back down the field on a seven-play, 80-yard scoring drive that was capped by McCoo's bullish romp across the goal line.

"That was the kind of game you like," Paterno said. "It was just good to be part of it."

After a 44-yard touchdown reception by Northwestern's Sam Simmons at the end of the first half, the Lions offense quickly capitalized in the first drive of the second half. Senneca led his unit down to the Northwestern one-yard line five plays later. On the next play, the junior signal caller dove over his line for the score, knotting the game back up, 21-21.

But on the next drive, Kustok orchestrated a clockwork nine-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a three-yard touchdown run up the middle by Damien Anderson that put the Wildcats up again, 28-21.

The momentum then teetered back to the Lions late in the third quarter. After the defense held Northwestern to another three-and-out, the Lions put together a nine-play, 55-yard drive that culminated with Senneca's second scoring jaunt of the day to tie the game at 28-28.

But the best was still yet to come.

After each team failed to make any serious noise through the first 11 and a half minutes of the fourth quarter, the Lions put together a marathon 14-play, 68-yard drive that took 5:40 off the clock and ended with Robbie Gould's 24-yard field goal, giving Penn State the lead (their first of the year), 31-28.

There was now just 3:36 left in the contest. But that's an eternity for an offense such as Northwestern's. And they proved it.

On the game's next series, Kustok raced his team down the field in just 82 seconds.

On the drive's fifth play, the senior signal caller dashed 39 yards to the Penn State one-yard line, but took it in by himself on the next play to put the Wildcats back on top, 35-31.

The Lions had only two minutes to go and 69 yards to cover. The situation got even more hairy when Senneca was knocked out of the game on the series's fourth play after Northwestern's Napoleon Harris flattened him on a first down pass attempt. Paterno had no choice but to put in redshirt freshman Zack Mills, who had not seen action in this contest.

Mills looked like anything but a rookie quarterback as he went 5 for 8 on the drive for 54 yards including the game winning four-yard toss to McCoo.

"It was a phenomenal, key situation," McCoo said.

"You have to have a quarterback with that type of confidence in that situation."

The Northwestern comeback kids couldn't muster any last second heroics this time as the Penn State defenders made sure tackles and the Wildcats made sloppy clock management decisions.

"We finally showed people we have talent and we have ability," McCoo said. "It was a big lift for me. It was a big lift for the entire team."