EAST LANSING, Mich. -- In Penn State's final game of 2008, Daryll Clark threw for more than 300 yards and four touchdown passes and the Nittany Lions routed Michigan State at Beaver Stadium to win the Land Grant Trophy and secure a spot in a January bowl game.
New year. Different venue. Same performance.
Clark threw for 310 yards and four touchdown passes -- including three in the third quarter -- and the Lions routed the Spartans, 42-14, on Saturday before 73,771 inside Spartan Stadium.
Penn State finished the regular season 10-2, the first time it has had consecutive 10-win seasons since 1993-94. The 1994 season was also the last time the Lions finished with a perfect road record, something they did this season with a 4-0 mark away from Happy Valley.
With its current No. 14 BCS ranking, Penn State remains eligible for an at-large bid in a BCS bowl.
The Lions have their third quarter to thank for that, as they scored 28 points and picked off Michigan State quarterback Kirk Cousins twice in the frame to break open a game that was tied 7-7 at halftime.
"A bunch of the older guys got up and said, 'We're not losing,' " linebacker Sean Lee said of halftime. "I said, 'We're gonna take this game. We're not gonna back down. We're gonna keep attacking on offense and we're not gonna let them score on defense again.' "
Save for a 71-yard Keshawn Martin touchdown catch with 1:44 left in the game, Lee's prophecy was correct in the form of a perfect 15 minutes of football for the Lions (10-2, 6-2 Big Ten).
Clark finished the third quarter 6-for-6 with three touchdown passes. A 14-yard touchdown pass from freshman wide receiver and former high school quarterback Curtis Drake to tight end Andrew Quarless got the scoring barrage started on the third play of the quarter.
Nick Sukay and Lee each picked off Cousins, and both Spartan (6-6, 4-4 Big Ten) turnovers led to Graham Zug touchdown catches.
The last came with 15 seconds left in the third, and it gave Clark the school record for single-season (23) and career touchdown passes (42).
Clark also finished the season with the most passing yards in a single season by a Penn State quarterback with 2,770.
Evan Royster added 114 yards on just 13 carries and became the seventh Penn State player to eclipse the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the second straight season with a a 21-yard gain on his first carry of the game. The Lions are 12-0 when Royster rushes for at least 100 yards.
In the end, however, all the talk was around the game's BCS implications.
A year after a 49-18 win over Michigan State clinched a Rose Bowl-bid, Penn State now finds its BCS fate in the hands of bowl committees.
Iowa won its regular season finale earlier in the day and finished with the same record as Penn State. The Hawkeyes -- currently ranked No. 13 in the BCS standings -- beat the Lions at Beaver Stadium, 21-10, back on Sept. 26.
A final BCS berth will likely come down to the two schools, but Joe Paterno won't be lobbying.
"What do you want me to say? Pick us! Pick us!" the Lion coach quipped. "What else can I say? I appreciate everybody wanting to know, and if I could get on the phone and call some people and say, 'You owe me, or if not you better watch out, there might be a horse's head in your bed.' "
