Enis, Nittany Lions rumble past Purdue

Here's why Purdue's Mike Rose is called Psycho.
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) -- Penn State learned its lesson and made Purdue pay for it.

KEYS TO THE GAME
	Penn State	Purdue
Rush yards	191	177
Turnovers	1	3
Place in history: Penn State junior tailback Curtis Enis, who notched his sixth straight 100-yard rushing game, moved into fourth place on the school's all-time rushing list with 3,012 yards, passing Ki-Jana Carter and Lydell Mitchell. He also moved into sole possession of third place in career rushing touchdowns (33).
Not quite perfect: With Saturday's loss, the Boilermakers failed in their attempt to go undefeated at home for the first time since 1979.

"We had to go out there and establish a running game. It's Big Ten football, and you have to run the ball, like Michigan did on us," said Curtis Enis, whose four touchdowns led the Nittany Lions (No. 6 in both polls) over Purdue (No. 20 ESPN/USA Today, No. 19 AP) 42-17 Saturday.

A week earlier, Michigan embarrassed Penn State 34-8, the worst home loss in Joe Paterno's 32 years as coach.

"Regardless of how you get it done, you have to make sure you keep the ground game positive. The pass game will come off that ground game," said Enis, who rushed for 186 yards and three touchdowns and caught a 67-yard TD pass from Mike McQueary.

The victory gave Penn State (8-1, 5-1 Big Ten) a slim chance for a share of the Big Ten title and a trip to the Rose Bowl, depending in part on Michigan's showdown next week with Ohio State. Purdue (7-3, 5-2) was eliminated from Rose Bowl contention, but a victory next week over Indiana would likely clinch a bid to another bowl game, the Boilermakers' first since 1984.

"For us, we just wanted to go out and prove to people that we're still a good football team, regardless of what happened last week," Enis said.

"We have to understand everybody's a critic. We have to stay within ourselves. We're a close-knit team ... we're a family. We just care about how we feel about each other ... and not worry about what everybody else says about us, because we know we're a good team."

The Boilermakers, who scored 12 points in the final two minutes to beat Michigan State a week earlier, trailed by 11 on Saturday and were poised for another comeback after scoring on Billy Dicken's second touchdown pass early in the final period. They threatened again on the next series before Jason Collins intercepted a pass at the Penn State 9 and returned it 53 yards.

It took only three plays for Penn State to score, and a 29-yard TD run by Enis with 7:20 remaining put the game out of reach. Maurice Daniels intercepted Dicken's pass and returned it 27 yards for the final touchdown with just over three minutes to go.

	Penn St.'s Curtis Enis stiff arms Purdue's Henry Bell.

"As I told the players after the game, the bad news was we didn't finish the game off like we wanted to," Purdue coach Joe Tiller said. "The good news is we go on the road next week and can demonstrate the kind of football team we are."

Enis, who had a career-high 37 carries and his sixth straight 100-yard game, also scored on runs of 14 yards in the second quarter and four yards in the third period. He also caught three passes for 83 yards, giving him a career-high 269 all-purpose yards.

"We played a lot better today, especially on defense," Paterno said. "We were able to put pressure on the quarterback and, as always, Curtis carried us. He's played tough in all our games, especially down the stretch."

Almost all of Penn State's offense came in the final three quarters.

The Nittany Lions had to punt on their first two possessions and managed only 34 yards in the opening period. Ed Watson, who led Purdue with 133 yards, had more yards than that on his first four carries.

A 20-yard run by Watson and three passes to Jon Blackman helped Purdue to the Penn State 23, and four plays later Dicken passed 11 yards to Isaac Jones for the touchdown and Purdue's only lead.

"I was pretty much fired up with this being my last home game," said Watson, who sat out most of the fourth quarter after he was shaken up on a tackle. "We just didn't make the plays. We had too many penalties. There's no sense harping on our mistakes. They happened."

"As always, Curtis carried us. He's played tough in all our games, especially down the stretch." -- Penn State coach Joe Paterno

Purdue couldn't take advantage of a Penn State fumble early in the second quarter and failed on a fourth-down run by Watson at the Lions 38. Penn State needed only nine plays to score after that. Passes to Anthony Cleary and Chafie Fields and a 13-yard run by Enis set up McQueary's 8-yard TD pass to Fields, and an extra-point kick by Travis Forney put Penn State ahead 7-6.

Penn State increased it to 14-6 late in the second quarter on Enis' first touchdown run, the 14-yarder. Purdue cut it to 14-9 at the half on a 42-yard field goal by Shane Ryan, who earlier missed the extra-point kick after Dicken's first touchdown pass.

McQueary, who was 16-for-24 for 253 yards, set up Enis' second TD run with a 47-yard pass to Brad Scioli in the third quarter. The 67-yard TD catch by Enis, a career-long reception for him, came in the closing seconds of the period.

Dicken was 33-for-60 -- tying a Purdue record for pass attempts -- for 347 yards.