Officially 106,445 spectators packed Beaver Stadium on Saturday to witness Boston College's 27-14 thumping of Penn State, but for Eagles' running back Derrick Knight, there was one Nittany Lions fan that made an impact above the rest.

After Knight left his indelible mark on the porous Lions' run defense, rushing 26 times for 156 yards -- including a 17-carry, 134-yard effort in the second half -- the senior tailback slid easily into a chair in the visiting team's media room.

While the 162 yards of total offense for which he was responsible or the eight carries for 59 yards he had in the second half might have made Knight tired, the spry running back handled post-game questions with as much ease as he handled opposing tacklers.

It was one topic, a chance encounter with a fan after Knight's stellar sixty minutes of football, that brought a spark to his eye above all the others.

"When I was walking off the field, a Penn State alumnus came up to me and he said, 'We sure would like to have some of you guys [from Boston College] in Blue and White,'" Knight said. "He handed me a button that said 'BC is History,' so apparently that's the way they talked about us Tuesday. It was a special moment because we found out that we had their respect."

Knight did much more than earn the respect of the throngs of people packed into the stadium's steel stands.

He awed fans with his ability, the strongest display came on a 31-yard sweep on a third-and-eight deep into the fourth quarter that skinned the Lions' hopes of making a comeback.

He wowed fans with his vision, the result of which was a series of long runs on plays seemingly without holes.

And he surprised fans with his ability to absorb a hit, bouncing back from a hip injury that came on his fifth carry of the game when one Lions' defender tackled him right below the hip and another landed on top of him and bent him backwards.

"At first I thought I could go back in but I realized my leg was completely numb," Knight said. "As soon as I started walking off the field, I realized that it was starting to go away, so I wasn't really that worried about it."

His coach, Tom O' Brien, said he wasn't especially concerned about the tailback spot in Knight's absence. Horace Dodd came off the bench to score the game's third touchdown, a one-yard plunge that put Boston College up 21-0 and then filled in with seven carries for 41 yards until Knight returned mid-way through the second quarter.

But it was the 5-foot-9 Knight who was arguably the biggest figure on the field for his team. As the Big East's leading returning rusher from 2002, the senior tailback possesses a combination of strength and speed that presented problems for the Penn State defenders.

It was something the Big East has been familiar with for a season, having seen Knight's 1,432 yards as a junior. Smiling after the game, Knight said Saturday was a harsh lesson for Penn State fans that expected the Eagles to serve as an tune-up for the Lions before their game next week against Nebraska.

"[They thought] we were going to come in here and roll over and die for them," Knight said. "We came in here and we didn't pass out. We hit them in the mouth, they hit us in the mouth and we played for four quarters."

While two scores and Dodd's touchdown runs in the game's first eight minutes were the harsh uppercuts, it was, perhaps, Knight's jabs that wore down the Lions.

After the game, Knight could stand in the ring after knocking down a Beast of the East.

He had made BC history.