If there is any part of this Penn State football team for which care should be taken not to anger, the defense would, unquestionably, be it.

Apparently, however, Michigan State missed that memo and did just the opposite -- they talked a little dirty to the Nittany Lions' defensive linemen.

"We get in the game and, before the first snap, they were talking trash, [saying] we were their scout team before their bowl game," defensive end Matthew Rice said. "So we took that to heart -- nobody says nothing like that to us."

Take it to heart, they did, exacting revenge by simply making sure that the Spartans had nothing to trash talk about. And the best silencing method proved to be the third quarter.

Once the Penn State offense led things off with a 75-yard touchdown drive that gave the team a four-point lead, the defense took the cue to explode, knowing that the job to win the game could, once again, rest on it. And explode they did -- well, if three interceptions and a blocked punt can be captured by the word "explode."

"The third quarter, to be honest with you, that's about as well as you can play defense," defensive coordinator Tom Bradley said. "That was lights out. We were playing so well I kept saying, 'Just leave me in this zone, keep me in the third quarter forever,' because everything was clicking."

Defensive end Tamba Hali led things off with the first interception of the quarter, giving Penn State the ball on Michigan State's 8-yard line. The response? A Penn State touchdown.

Next was a three-and-out series. And then, when it seemed like things couldn't get much better, was a pick by linebacker Paul Posluszny. He returned it to the 17-yard line, setting up, yes, another Penn State touchdown. And, just like that, the score was 24-6, Penn State.

"Going in there, getting the turnover, the three-and-out, the TO, and the offense going in there and scoring right back -- it's something we've been trying to do all season," senior linebacker Derek Wake said. "I'm glad to see the momentum start rolling."

Of course, that wasn't even the end of it. Another three-and-out led to a punt blocked by cornerback Donnie Johnson, which led to the Lions' fourth touchdown of the quarter. And with just 10 seconds left in the quarter, safety Calvin Lowry grabbed one final interception.

Quite the way to come out after halftime, to be sure. And, quite the way to seal the victory, especially on a day as emotional as Senior Day.

"We had one half left of football to play for an entire year, we had one half of football left to play with Derek Wake and [senior safety] Andrew Guman," Posluszny said. "And that -- we just really wanted to take advantage of that."

But, perhaps most importantly pride-wise, it was quite the way to silence some serious trash talking.

"What happens is, they talk all the trash in the beginning of the game, we slap them around a little bit, they don't say nothing -- it's as simple as that," cornerback Alan Zemaitis said. "They talk a lot of stuff, but there's not much you can say when we smack them in the mouth every time."