Navorro Bowman got to the 25-yard line, and his legs couldn't keep up.
Had a near stumble turned into a faceplant, teammates would've been on him worse than they already were for getting gassed toward the end of his 91-yard fumble return before halftime.
"I thought he was going down," defensive tackle Jared Odrick said. "I was watching on the JumboTron. I thought he was going to go down on the 20, but he caught himself, so I was happy. I told him on the sideline, 'If you're going down, just toss it back to me.' "
Cornerback A.J. Wallace trailed Bowman the last 40 yards, making sure nobody could keep him from celebrating in the end zone.
Watching from the sideline, wide receiver Brett Brackett just wanted Bowman to make it there, worrying he might aggravate the groin pull that kept him out for most of September.
Bowman said his groin is fine, but the injury is still in the back of his mind.
"I'm trying my hardest not to think about it and let my body operate the way it wants to do," he said.
Scanning the field and reacting to the ball put Bowman in position to scoop up Ollie Ogbu's forced fumble and rumble 91 yards down the sideline to paydirt.
"I don't make excuses, but I was just a little fatigued after," Bowman said.
"I don't know how many plays it was, but just running that far, it kind of got me."
After the score, coach Joe Paterno heard a voice in his ear.
"[Tom] Bradley said to me, 'I don't think he's in shape,' " Paterno said of Bowman.
Penn State's defensive coordinator joked he wasn't sure if Paterno or Bowman was in better shape, saying it's a toss-up after 50 yards.
That was only the start of the ribbing for the junior linebacker.
"Me and him gotta work on some speed things," running back Stephfon Green said. "I said, 'Hey man, Navor, that's horrible. That is plain horrible. You're running that fast and you pull up at the 20? It ain't over. You gotta keep running through the end zone.' "
Cornerback Knowledge Timmons, who spent most of the game with a bandage covering his right knee, said he could've out-hustled Bowman on one leg, adding he runs like a lineman.
"Tell [Knowledge] if he gets in front of me, I'll feel like a lineman running him over," Bowman said in response.
Even Penn State radio play-by-play man Steve Jones sought Bowman out after the game and got in one last joke about "the oil running out."
"I said, 'Well, it made it to the gas station,' " Bowman said.
