Two different coaches with two different stories, and one play with one result.

Penn State football coach Joe Paterno said he and his coaches knew they could get away with the fake field goal.

Virginia football coach Al Groh claimed his team was expecting the fake not only on that kick, but every kick before it.

On the second play of the fourth quarter, though, Nittany Lions holder Chris Ganter took the snap and immediately jumped from his spot and set off toward the end zone. The third-string quarterback went almost untouched on his way to the end zone.

His score and the ensuing two-point conversion run, gave Penn State a 21-point lead and set the Lions (7-3, 3-3 Big Ten) on their way to avenging last year's gut-wrenching loss to the Cavaliers (6-4, 4-2 ACC) with a 35-14 win.

"It wasn't so much revenge as it was proving something to them," said Penn State safety Shawn Mayer. "They beat us last year and everything, but there was a lot of talk this year and a lot of things around this game. This team just wanted to win it."

Paterno revealed his level of frustration earlier this week over Virginia moving the game from September and conveniently placing it after a Cavalier bye-week, while the Lions haven't had a weekend off in nine weeks.

The Lions and Cavaliers have bad blood dating back to the 2000 off-season, when Al Golden left Penn State to become Virginia's defensive coordinator.

"There's been a lot of talk about this game and everything," Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley said. "Maybe we were just upset that they knew so much about us."

It didn't matter how much the Cavaliers knew on Saturday.

Penn State came out with its most balanced attack in weeks, throwing 19 times and running 15 times in the first half.

Quarterback Zack Mills broke out of the only prolonged slump of his Penn State career by completing 19 of 31 passes for 227 yards and two touchdowns. Though he only rushed for 16 net yards, he was more active with his feet and made room for receivers Bryant Johnson and Tony Johnson, who had three receptions each.

Larry Johnson ran for 188 yards on 31 carries and scored Penn State's final touchdown on a six-yard run. He ranks third nationally with a 140.9 average rushing yards per game, and has rushed for 790 yards in Penn State's last four games.

Larry Johnson now leads the nation in all-purpose yards per game with a 195.9-yard average after racking up 251 against Virginia. Saturday's performance puts him at 1,959 all-purpose yards this season, which is a Penn State record, surpassing O.J. McDuffie's 1,831 in 1992.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Larry Johnson was replaced with backup Mike Gasparato. Later, though, with mostly second-string linemen playing, Larry Johnson re-entered the game amid chants of "L.J." from the student section.

"I got talked into that by a couple of kids on the squad and by a couple of the coaches telling me he could get a 200-yard game," Paterno explained. "[Kinta] Palmer misses the block. Otherwise he probably would have had it. This team is close in a lot of different ways and I felt 'If that's what they want, then let's do it.' "

On the defensive side, Penn State had everything covered, even though there seemed to be some confusion before the game among the Lions as to what type of strategy the Cavaliers would employ.

"I think they had seen in some tape before where we've had trouble defending the quick bubble screens and those quick passes," Bradley said. "I thought that's what they'd go for."

Bradley was right. Receiver Billy McMullen grabbed 10 passes and gained 122 yards, mostly on quick screens. Though the Penn State defense never adjusted to that particular play, it stifled everything else Virginia tried.

Paterno said he thought Virginia would come out running the ball. Tailback Wali Lundy rushed nine times for 41 yards, impressive only because he was almost always hit in the backfield.

"We thought we'd get through and find the runner early -- and we did," Penn State defensive tackle Jimmy Kennedy said.

The Lions, led by a fiery group of seniors, are playing with more desire than any Penn State team has in two years.

"We just wanted to show them we're not the same team as last year," said Mayer, referring specifically to the Cavaliers but knowing that this Penn State team had to prove it to everyone else too -- and maybe finally has.