MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. -- It was just two minutes before halftime and the only noise in Happy Valley came from several hundred lost-in-the-crowd Northwestern fans, N.U. broadcasters Dave Eanet and Ted Albrecht, along with a couple of contented shrieks from the Wildcats coaches light years above the football field.
 

The Nittany Lions (6-3 over all, 3-2  Big Ten) had been in celebration mode, because this was to be the day where one of the top 4-5 coaching legends of all time, Joe Paterno, was to celebrate career victory No. 400, a milestone that may not be reached by anybody this century.
 
Shades of the 33-13 humiliation by Illinois, which had won its first-ever game against the Nittany Lions in State College, loomed long over the 104,167 silent witnesses.
 
Bethlehem (Pa.) Liberty High product Dan Persa, who grew up a huge Lions fan, had guided the Wildcats (6-3, 2-3) flawlessly to a 21-0 lead, hitting Drake Dunsmore over the middle for a 9-yard touchdown with 1 minute 7 seconds remaining that seemingly sealed the Nits in the seventh circle of football hell. Particularly after the 'Cats had consumed both clock and huge yardage throughout the first half.
 
And then...
 
Penn State faced a third-and-3 from its own 32, with the clock seemingly running at warp speed.
 
At this point, offensive coordinator Galen Hall, whose unit was as injury-wracked as the average N.F.L. team, went into his what-the-hey creative bag of tricks.
 
What Hall would later call a "Tweener play" to The Centre Daily Times's Penn State beat writer Jeff Rice, pumped instant life into the offense. Stephfon Green took a handoff from backup quarterback Matthew McGloin and an awakened offensive line provided a first-class escort to a 21-yard gain that was the linchpin to a 75-yard touchdown drive climaxed by a 7-yard  strike from McGloin to Brett Bracket with 7 seconds remaining.
 
That quickly the party atmosphere and rowdy sing-along that is a Penn State home game put a spring in the Lions' steps as they headed to the locker room. The draw-play sprint was Green's only carry of the day, but if the Lions make it to a visible bowl, it will occupy a special place in this up-and-down 2010 season.
 
A glance at the postgame numbers -- Evan Royster's 134 yards in 25 carries and Silas Redd going for 131 in just 11 tries -- will bear statistical witness to Penn State's eventual dominance, but Hall could not overemphasize Green's valuable role.
 
"We thought it had a chance to get a first down," Hall said to Rice, "but it was a safer play than going back and getting a pass rush or a blitz to hit us. It worked for us. Matt hit a pass, the momentum got going, we (scored), and they had a hard time after that."
 
Fullback Mike Zordich, son of '70s Penn State all-American cornerback/linebacker Michael Zordich, offered the simplest logic: "Being down 21-7 is a lot different than being down 21-0," he told Rice.
 
For Northwestern, which was coming off a good road win at Indiana, depth was a major second-half issue, although no one on the visiting sideline would admit it.
 
N.U. Coach Pat Fitzgerald's worst fears -- the Lions' regaining their psychological edge and the notorious Penn State home=field advantage, came to life.
 
"We lost momentum," he told The Associated Press. "They played with a little bit more of a chip on their shoulder. "We've got to fix our attitude and be able to seize momentum back and put our guys in a position to do that."
 
That is the difference between the mid-level league teams and the Penn States, Michigans (usually, anyhow), Ohio States, Iowas and Wisconsins that dominate the top of the Big Ten standings.
 
Seemingly instantaneously, Penn State was even. Officially, it took 8:51 playing time, as McGloin hit Nate Cadogan on the Lions' opening third-quarter possession for a 3-yard touchdown and after a Northwestern three-and-out, in which Penn State showed Persa a whole lot of defensive sophistication largely missing in the first half, McGloin drove the Lions downfield again, throwing to Derek Moye down the right sideline for a 36-yard score and Penn State never looked back.
 
"We started feeling a little bit better," said Moye, who replaced Bolden late in the first quarter and threw for 4 touchdowns and 225 yards.
 
Talking to Rice, he added, "The crowd started to get into it, the sideline started to get into it and we were able to get going."
 
A four-yard Silas Redd run late in the third quarter completed a 21-point blitz that deflated Northwestern. McGloin hit Evan Royster for a 13-yard fourth-quarter score but by then, the Lions' defense had pretty much choked off any real N.U. threat to regain momentum.
 
What this means in the bigger picture is what pumps new life into the 2010 season in Happy Valley. It includes Saturday's game against No. 7 Ohio State in Columbus, plus a neutral-site game against Indiana at Fed Ex Field in Landover, Md. -- yeah, reallll neutral ... with Penn State having allegedly gobbled up some 60,000-plus tickets, and a regular-season closeout at home with Michigan State.
 
That this team has been able to bounce back from 24-3 one-siders at Alabama and Iowa and the 33-13 humiliation should erase any questions the darkest skeptic might have about Paterno's ability to rally the forces.