It wasn't always pretty. Three fumbles on kicks by three different players. Two very bad interceptions.
For a while Saturday, Penn State didn't deserve to beat Indiana.
But when it was all said and done, the Nittany Lions did just enough.
That's quite the microcosm for a senior class whose four- and five-year tenure was filled with highs and lows. Like those years, Saturday's win was ugly at times.
But look what happened with a little bit of perseverance.
Penn State, with help from teams like Central Florida, North Carolina and Stanford, moved to No. 14 in the latest BCS standings, released Sunday evening.
A team must be ranked in the top 14 in the BCS to be eligible for a BCS bowl.
Coach Joe Paterno has gone on record numerous times advocating change in the Big Ten to help keep the conference relevant after Thanksgiving when other conferences are wrapping up league play and hosting championship games.
This year, Joe, sitting at home twiddling your thumbs will probably land your team in the Fiesta Bowl or Orange Bowl.
That would make it three BCS games for the fifth-year seniors and two in four years for the other members of the 2006 recruiting class.
Nine players on that 24-member nationally-renowned '06 class are no longer with the team. Some, like Pat Devlin, Chris Bell, Abe Koroma, Antonio Logan-El, Phillip Taylor and J.B. Walton transferred.
Others, like Maurice Evans and Aaron Maybin declared early for the NFL draft.
Some faced off-field issues. No player has dealt with more off-field issues than Navorro Bowman, whose 73-yard interception return changed Saturday's game.
Andrew Quarless and A.J. Wallace have been the poster boys of life in Paterno's doghouse.
Yet, through it all -- fights, DUIs, suspensions and two ugly home losses -- the senior class turned out OK.
"A lot of guys stepped through a lot of things, fought through some difficulties," senior defensive tackle Jared Odrick said.
"That's what life is about. It's fighting through adversity and coming back from it and coming back from mistakes made. It's a tribute to the seniors here, especially the fifth-year guys who were able to be there through two Big Ten championships."
Last year's Senior Day had a little more magic to it too when the Lions clinched the Big Ten.
Odrick said emotions didn't really hit him because there's work to be done, starting next week at Michigan State.
Roses won't be in mouths if the Lions walk out of Spartan Stadium victorious.
But the last time they did win at Michigan State, all the frustrations of the past -- four losing seasons in five years, a last-second loss at Michigan -- were forgotten.
"As a class that came in with a lot of high aspirations in terms of coming here and making an impact," Odrick said about how he wants this year's senior class to be remembered after it leaves. "Hopefully, we'll sum up everything and say that we did that."
It's easy math.
Eighteen seniors plus a 10-2 record plus a BCS bid equals success.
