4th-quarter spurt lifts Penn St. over Northwestern

Published Nov. 1, 2009 2:17 a.m. ET

foxsports

Penn State's defense clamped down after Northwestern lost starting quarterback Mike Kafka.

In the fourth quarter, the Nittany Lions' offense kicked in.

Evan Royster bolted 69 yards for a TD to cap a three-score spurt in the final period and No. 12 Penn State pulled away to a 34-13 victory Saturday night.

"You got to understand that a kid like that quarterback (Kafka) is out of there, it's a big loss," Penn State coach Joe Paterno said. "Kafka's a heck of a football player. We played them more aggressively in the second half and did a better job with the pass rush, regardless of whether Kafka was in there or some other kid."