With all the pageantry and emotion that is inherent to Senior Day, the fact that there is a football game to be played can be lost in the shuffle.

Saturday, on an unseasonably warm November afternoon, the second-largest crowd in Beaver Stadium history came to pay its final respects to a senior class that has carried Penn State football out of the Big Ten cellar on its shoulders.

Those 25 seniors did not disappoint, beating then-No. 14 Wisconsin, 35-14.

"It definitely was emotional. But what a way to go out," quarterback Michael Robinson said. "Playing a great team like Wisconsin, playing hard. It was hard fought, they were tough, and they didn't quit."

In a game that was played for first place in the Big Ten and the inside track to a conference title, the Nittany Lions jumped all over the Badgers early, paced largely by that same senior class, and they held on late, again carried by their seniors.

Tamba Hali tied a Penn State record with four sacks, and Matthew Rice chipped in one of his own. Calvin Lowry and Alan Zemaitis both intercepted Wisconsin quarterback John Stocco, and Lowry nearly broke a punt return for a touchdown.

But no player was more important against the Badgers (8-2, 5-2 Big Ten), or has loomed larger for the Nittany Lions this season, than Robinson, and Saturday he etched his name into the Penn State record books with one last stirring performance in Beaver Stadium.

With his 363 yards of total offense against a Wisconsin defense that was all but begging for him to beat it, Robinson moved past Kerry Collins into first place on Penn State's list for total yards in a season.

Collins recorded 2,660 total yards in 1994 -- the last time the Lions won the Big Ten championship. Robinson currently has 2,687 yards, with one game remaining, a game that will provide Penn State with a chance to break that 11-year drought.

Senior Day is a day for nostalgia, but Robinson wanted no part. Neither did any of his teammates, actually.

"It was definitely an emotional time, but at the same time we knew we had a job to get done," Robinson said. "All the tears and stuff, you can cry after the game when you have won, but before the game, it's definitely all about business. We really weren't thinking about the fact that it was Senior Day."

The Lions (9-1, 6-1) moved themselves closer to a Big Ten championship, despite frustrating the capacity crowd with their inability to land the punch that would knock out the Badgers.

Still, Penn State's relatively easy victory gave notice to the rest of the Big Ten that it will not accept the lack of respect it perceives.

"People this week have kind of been insulting us, talking about the Big Ten is wide open, like we're not really on top of it," tailback Tony Hunt said. "We proved we're on top of the Big Ten right now. I don't think there's a question of it being wide open."

The win, combined with the loss of highly ranked teams like UCLA, Florida State and Virginia Tech, seemed to have gotten the attention of national poll voters -- both Associated Press and the USA Today polls have the Nittany Lions at No. 6 in the nation.

"Our goal was to come out and win every game and get to a national championship," tackle Levi Brown said. "We might not get there now, but we're trying to win all of them and win this Big Ten championship."

Even on a day that was supposed to be for the seniors, the seniors made sure it was about the team, and it is precisely this attitude that has Penn State in position to win the Big Ten after Saturday's victory.

"I feel like we was in the driver's seat before this game, but I mean it's another win," Zemaitis said. "We're just closer to our goal of getting that Big Ten [title]."