From the moment he stepped off the plain, blue bus outside the south entrance to Beaver Stadium, Daryll Clark was focused and prepared.

The first Nittany Lion to make his way through the sea of white, Clark saluted the roughly 5,000 fans with a simple pump of his fist. His facial expression never changed. His concentration was narrowed solely on his pending first test as Penn State's starting quarterback.

"Waking up this morning, I knew something big was going to come out of today," Clark said. "We realized how big this game was gonna be."

Save for a wild pass into the stands on his first attempt, which he attributed to adrenaline, Clark played solid in his Big Ten debut. He completed 70 percent of his passes, including a pair of perfectly thrown touchdown throws.

His first scoring strike, a 21-yard wheel route to Derrick Williams, hit Williams in stride at the goalline. All Illinois linebacker Martez Wilson could do was watch as Williams flew by him. Wilson bit on Clark's play-action fake at the snap and was taken out of the play.

Clark said the Lions installed the play specifically for the Illini and it worked as well as it had in practice.

But it was Clark's running ability that kept the Illini defense guessing. He didn't run often, but when Clark did tuck the ball he was efficient. He forced Illinois to account for him on every play.

He used his legs to keep drives alive and wear down Illinois' defense. Six of Clark's 11 rushing attempts resulted in either first downs or touchdowns.

"Last year, they didn't have a running quarterback," Illinois corner Vontae Davis said. "[But now] if everything wasn't open, you know he can take off and run. You gotta worry about the run too."

And when the Lions needed a response to an Illini touchdown that made it a one-score game early in

the fourth quarter, there was Clark again.

He ran 22 yards for a first down on the drive. Then four plays later, Clark hit a wide-open Andrew Quarless in the left side of the end zone to put the game out of reach.

"He did a phenomenal job," senior wide receiver Deon Butler said of Clark.

"He did a good job for the crazy atmosphere and for his first Big Ten game, he handled himself very well. I think as the season goes on he'll get more calm and more comfortable."

But with four minutes to play, and the Lions running out the clock, Clark took off down the right sideline and got pounded by Illinois defensive back Donsay Hardeman.

Clark went down on the play, and appeared banged up as he limped along the Penn State sideline.

But one play later, there he was, standing next to head coach Joe Paterno, pleading his case to try to get back in for the final snaps.

A couple bumps and bruises weren't going to keep him off the field for the final seconds of the biggest win of his football career.

The moment he'd dreamed about since he was quarterbacking Youngstown (Ohio) Ursuline High School against rival Cardinal Mooney at Youngstown State's 20,630-seat Stambaugh Stadium.

The performance that validated his legitimacy as a Big Ten starting quarterback.

But more importantly, he wanted to send a message to his teammates that he will have their backs during every second of every game, even if he's not 100 percent healthy.

"I told him 'I'm finishing this game. Let me walk it off a couple of plays but I'm going back in this game. We fought hard and I'm gonna ride until the wheels fall off with the guys that got the job done today,' " Clark said. "He said 'fine, can you go again?' I said 'yea, right after this play' and I ran out there.

"We needed to be in a 12-round fight and we were.

"It really felt good knowing we could be a really good team."