If Saturday's Penn State-Nebraska football game was a boxing match, the Cornhuskers' collective head would've started to spin when the Nittany Lions scored on their first drive of the third quarter to make the score 19-7.
All that was left was the knockout punch.
It almost came when defensive end Michael Haynes knocked the ball out of Cornhuskers quarterback Jammal Lord's hand as he raised it to throw. Haynes picked up the ball and had nothing but green in front of him, but it was ruled an incompletion.
However, the call didn't bail the Huskers out, it just gave a former walk-on a chance to be a hero.
Two plays later, on third down and six from the Husker 39, quarterback Jammal Lord dropped back and found wide receiver Ben Cornelson open near the first down marker. However, he missed his target, and Lions junior cornerback Rich Gardner came behind Cornelson and made a shoe string interception. He turned it up field and ran 42 yards untouched for a touchdown, giving the Lions a 26-7 lead, and putting the Huskers on the floor.
The record crowd at Beaver Stadium, which was already frenzied, erupted in cheers when Gardner picked the ball off, but he kept his focus on the goalline.
"You don't even think," Gardner said. "It's just a habit. You have to score. You got the ball in your hand you score. I didn't even know what was going on until after when everyone was slapping me on the head. I sat down on the sideline, and was like 'Hey, I scored a touchdown.' ''
It's a habit Gardner has only been able to experience in practice since coming to Penn State from Hales Franciscan High School in Chicago. The game-turning touchdown return came on Gardner's first interception of his career.
"It's a good feeling," Gardner said. "It's a good thing, especially for my first pick in my collegiate career. It feels real good doing it for my family and the fans and everything. Just doing something that I always wanted to do."
When the 'Huskers' got the ball back, it was clear that Gardner's interception and the deafening crowd got the adrenaline flowing for the Lions' defense. The Lions were swarming to the ball to make plays.
After I-back Dahrran Diedrick opened the next drive with a four-yard run, Haynes dragged him down seven yards behind the line of scrimmage on the next play. The 'Huskers managed to complete a three-yard pass on third and 13, but had to punt on the next play.
"It was a big momentum swing," defensive tackle Anthony Adams said. "I looked in everybody's eyes afterwards and everybody was pumped to play, everybody was ready to make plays."
The momentum snowballed on both sides of the ball. After the third-and-out, the Lions scored another touchdown to go up 33-7. The Nebraska offense was stopped for one yard on the first two plays of the next drive. They got a first down on a 19-yard scramble by Lord on third down, but punted three plays later.
The next drive ended on an interception by Lions defensive end Lavon Chisley. The Huskers were down 40-7 when they got the ball again with just 6:06 to go in the game.
The Huskers had just 31 yards of total offense between Gardner's interception and the final drive.
"We were in a tight game," Penn State football coach Joe Paterno said. "We were playing well defensively, we were moving the ball when we had it, then we get one like that, it's just icing on the cake. It made it awfully tough for Nebraska."
