No. 16 Penn State (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) ran the football on Saturday.

"Robinson makes it all easier," coach Joe Paterno said about his offensive team captain, senior Michael Robinson. "I don't think we turned the ball over once. We hung onto the ball. When you play a game and don't make a lot of mistakes, you usually do pretty well. We are getting better."

The quarterback -- and the rest of the Nittany Lions' offense -- didn't turn the ball over against Minnesota, and Robinson finally had more than 100 yards rushing for the first time in his career.

That statistic sounds ridiculously misleading, but it's really not. His previous career-high was 85 yards against Indiana in 2003, and the last Lions quarterback to rush for more than 100 yards in a game was Zack Mills against Ohio State in 2001.

Robinson deflected all glory to the fans, especially at the end of the game when he stood on bleachers and screamed toward freshmen students.

"They're basically the 12th man on the field for us," he said. "Student section -- they come out and they do a great job getting loud and rowdy, and we love it. Offensive players, we love just the atmosphere on game day. And, I was just was showing those guys some appreciation."

Tailback Tony Hunt attributed much of the running success to solid play from the offensive line. For the first time all season, the Lions' zone-blocking scheme opened up holes.

Hunt had two touchdowns. Freshman Derrick Williams had two, too. Rodney Kinlaw, the third-string tailback, even had one. Every touchdown against the Golden Gophers was a running touchdown.

Gophers coach Glen Mason said he was most concerned with Robinson's running, rather than his passing.

"We probably had major breakdowns in fundamentals," he said. "It sounds like an oversimplification, but that's typically what it is."

The Gophers could not stop one of the Lions' favorite offensive plays, the quarterback draw.

"One time, they said when I run the draw I put the ball up near my ear," Robinson said. "So I tried to, you know, stop doing that."

Perhaps, the offensive line deserves the credit. Perhaps, Minnesota's defensive line buckled.

Whatever the reason, the Lions rushing attack picked up more yards and more first downs than any team around here in a long while. Only one team in the Paterno era managed more first downs, against Temple in 1995. That is an amazing statistic.

"It depends on what people want to do to us," Paterno said. "If they want to take the pass game away, you can take it away from you. Then you got to run the ball. I hope we can have a balanced attack. I don't know what the figures were today but we were fairly balanced, I think."

The Lions only passed the ball for 175 yards, and Robinson only threw 13 completions despite 32 attempts.

"I would hope to be a good quarterback, you know?" Robinson said.

"But, that still remains to be seen: how great I can be. So, umm... hopefully we'll keep doing some good things, and hopefully things will go our way."

Robinson credited the team's strength and conditioning program for his performance. He looked tougher, especially when he knocked out Gophers safety Brandon Owens in the second quarter.

"Actually, I didn't think he was going to hit me that hard," Robinson said. "It kind of scared me a little bit, but I saw him and I was like, 'Let me just buckle up, hold onto the ball and try to stay up.' I didn't know he was going to go down like that, and I hope he's OK."

Owens flew back to Minneapolis with his team after the game, Mason said. Owens left the field under his own power with his arm in a brace.

Hopefully, Owens will be able to see the field soon. As for the rest of the Gophers defense, it will probably be a very long time before they can recover.