By all accounts, Kyle Orton was supposed to waltz into Happy Valley.

The Purdue senior quarterback would come in with a swagger, it was thought, have his way with the Penn State defense and leave with over 300 yards passing and about five touchdowns to his name.

But Penn State's defense, which was not made available to the media after the game, had something very different in store -- something along the lines of two interceptions, three sacks and the allowance of a single Orton touchdown pass -- and in doing so, boldly went where no other defense has gone yet this year.

"They had a great scheme," Orton said. "They're big and physical, really came out and played us well and made us get out of some things we like to do."

The biggest problem for Orton was the tremendous pressure he faced all evening. He had only been sacked three times all year heading into Saturday, but Penn State brought a rush he had not seen yet this year.

Defensive linemen Scott Paxson and Lavon Chisley each got a piece of Orton, as did linebacker J.R. Zwierzynski, resulting in three sacks for a total loss of 9 yards. And even when Orton didn't go down, he was under intense pressure, with defensive linemen most commonly charging his way.

"I made the comment before -- folks at West Lafayette heard me say this -- I thought this was the one team so far that we've played that could get pressure to your quarterback without bringing numbers," Purdue coach Joe Tiller said. "Without bringing linebackers and secondary defenders."

Part of the reason the pressure was so effective was that the Lions mixed up their pass defense well enough that Orton had to readjust each time he dropped back to get a pass off. Penn State tried nickel and dime configurations, with extra defenders to break up the pass, and also varied the types of zone defense used.

"I thought they did a good job of changing up their coverages and playing a tremendous amount of zone and different types of zone," Tiller said. "They played halves, they played thirds, they played brackets. This game here is the most coverages we've seen, combinations of coverages. And when that happens to you, you need a lot of time. That's why you saw our quarterback on the move."

Orton was also forced to deal with something that, as of yet this year, he has been unfamiliar with -- interceptions. The two picks occurred on back-to-back Purdue drives in the fourth quarter, with the first grab by safety Calvin Lowry and the second by cornerback Anwar Phillips.

Purdue also faced six broken up passes, one of those a key swat by cornerback Alan Zemaitis on third-and-6 when Purdue was just 28 yards from the end zone in the fourth quarter, stopping a drive that would have put the game away for good.

The one time Orton did, however, get the best of the defense was at the start of the third quarter, when he bombed a 40-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Taylor Stubblefield. The defense looked a bit confused, perhaps due to the loss of signal caller and linebacker Paul Posluszny to a right shoulder injury, and allowed Stubblefield to make the catch and dash downfield, untouched.

"We were just playing straight three-deep on that," defensive coordinator Tom Bradley said. "[Linebacker] Derek [Wake] kind of got caught up inside a little bit and Stubblefield is a little bit of a hard guy to run with when you are running with the wheel [route] in three-deep."

This is the kind of defense that needs perfection, so it's no surprise that Bradley was still wanting more after the game, still hoping to erase a play like that Stubblefield catch and just see how the game could be different.

"Sure I can ask for more," Bradley said. "Close isn't cutting it. That's what I'm trying to explain to you guys."

But, heck, Penn State held Orton to 275 yards, picked him off twice, placed him under constant pressure and nabbed three sacks -- any other team should be so lucky.