Contrary to what the score might indicate, the 103,987 fans at Beaver Stadium watched a shoot-out Saturday.

One of the gunslingers just ran out of bullets by shooting himself in the foot.

Louisiana Tech junior quarterback Luke McCown came out firing and pulled his Bulldogs within a 21-17 deficit of the Penn State football team with a touchdown pass with 12:35 to go in the third quarter. However, the Bulldogs were already having trouble dealing with the various types of ammunition coming at them from the Nittany Lions offense, and McCown made a few mistakes that didn't help his cause.

The Lions scored four unanswered touchdowns in the third quarter, three caused by turnovers, turning the potential slugfest into a 49-17 rout.

The win allows the Lions, who jumped to No. 12 in Associated Press Poll, to begin the Big Ten season next Saturday against Iowa with a 3-0 record. The Bulldogs fell to 2-2 with the loss.

McCown passed for 406 yards and two touchdowns on the day, picking the Lions apart early in the game with short passes and screens. However, the Lions started snuffing those out in the second half, and early in the third, McCown allowed the Lions to take over the game.

On the fourth play of the drive, at the La. Tech 23-yard line, McCown rolled to his right then threw left, directly into the hands of Lions linebacker Deryck Toles. Toles returned the interception nine yards to the La. Tech 24.

"It was really big," Penn State football coach Joe Paterno said. "It was not only big because it gave us points, but also it didn't allow them to be as loose as they were. So it wasn't only what it did for us, but it's what it did to them"

Three plays later, the Lions' jack-of-all-offensive-trades, Michael Robinson, lined up as a quarterback and ran for a six-yard touchdown, his third score of the game, to open up a 28-17 lead for the Lions.

Robinson also scored in the second quarter on a very similar play and scored the game's first touchdown, taking an option pitch from quarterback Zack Mills and dashing 18 yards to paydirt with 10:39 left in the first quarter.

With 3:09 remaining in the third quarter, the Lions struck again via the interception, this time without needing an offensive play. Nickel back Paul Cronin, a redshirt freshman walk-on, stepped in front of a screen pass and picked it off for his first career interception, then scampered 34 yards for a touchdown to up the lead to 35-17.

The Bulldog offense continued to stall, and the Lions kept capitalizing. The Bulldogs went three and out on the next drive, and Lions wide receiver Bryant Johnson returned the punt 45 yards to the La. Tech 15. The Lions scored two plays later on a four-yard run by tailback Larry Johnson.

Defensive end Michael Haynes set up another Larry Johnson touchdown, forcing a fumble by McCown with his second sack of the day and returning it to the Bulldog two-yard line. Johnson scored on the next play. He finished with a career-high 147 yards rushing on the day and also had a 19-yard reception for a touchdown in the first quarter.

"We just somehow let it get away from us in what seems like a span of two minutes," Louisiana Tech coach Jack Bicknell said. "I was standing there and thinking that this was going to be one of those barn-burners. I really felt good when we came out and scored. I really feel like [Penn State] is one of the top teams in the country."