Joe Paterno did it.

The legendary coach has finally turned a corner with his Penn State football team with back-to-back Big Ten wins against Northwestern and Ohio State.

Oh, and the 74-year-old coach also passed Paul "Bear" Bryant on the all-time Division I-A wins list as the Nittany Lions defeated the Buckeyes, 29-27.

"It's great to get a win for Joe Paterno," defensive lineman Anthony Adams said. "He's such a nice guy, such a down-to-earth type of person."

It wasn't easy to get Paterno the record, though.

The Buckeyes scored on their first play from scrimmage as quarterback Steve Bellisari found Michael Jenkins on a post route that went for 66 yards and a touchdown.

Penn State kept it close in the first half thanks to freshman placekicker Robbie Gould, who connected on three field goals, two of which came from 46 yards.

But as the third quarter started, it seemed like Ohio State had the momentum and was going to pull away as running back Jonathan Wells scampered 65 yards to put the Buckeyes ahead by a comfortable 20-9 score. It got more grim for Penn State on the next possession as Zack Mills' pass went through the hands of Eddie Drummond and Ohio State's Derek Ross picked it off. Ross ran the ball back for another score, increasing the Buckeyes' lead to 18 points.

"After last week's game," linebacker Ron Graham said, "we just decided that we weren't going to give up and that we were going to find a way to win."

And again, for the second week in a row, Mills led the Lions to victory. The freshman who replaced junior quarterback Matt Senneca after the first series, hopped over a blocker, bounced off a tackle and ran 69 yards for a touchdown to start chipping away at the Buckeyes' lead.

Later in the third quarter, Mills found wide receiver Tony Johnson for a 26-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 27-22. The two third quarter scores took only four plays and not even two minutes.

But the teenager wasn't done yet. The Lions were still losing and Mills hadn't awed the Beaver Stadium crowd of 108,327 quite enough yet.

After starting at its 10-yard line, Mills drove his Penn State offense down the field, and found tailback Eric McCoo for a go-ahead 14-yard touchdown pass to start the final quarter. McCoo was the same person Mills found last week at Northwestern on the Lions' winning drive.

"He's not a freshman anymore," McCoo said of Mills. "He's made some good decisions on the run this year and has produced when he's in there."

The Ohio State game was no different. He replaced Senneca early in the first and never looked back.

Mills finished with 280 yards passing and 138 yards rushing.

But Ohio State still had almost an entire quarter to regain the lead. The Lions defense had played well, excluding the two mix-ups with the long touchdown scores, and they were only going to get better.

On the Buckeyes' first drive of the fourth, Yaacov Yisreal picked off a Bellisari pass. Their next drive, the Buckeyes were stuffed deep in their territory and had to punt. But Ohio State threatened late as the offense put the ball inside the 20-yard line for placekicker Mike Nugent. The kicker had a 34-yard chip shot, which easily could have been made, if not for Bryant Scott.

The snap was good, the kick was up and blocked by Scott, stifling any possibility of the Buckeyes coming back and giving the Lions their second win of the season. After starting the season with four straight losses, Penn State has come back in grand fashion to upset Northwestern and Ohio State in back-to-back weeks.

"This is why you come to Penn State and play for coach Paterno," offensive lineman Tyler Lenda said.

"He's awesome, the crowd was great and to beat Ohio State after what happened last season was extra special."