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Penn State 34, Northwestern 9

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) -- No last-minute comebacks for Northwestern this time.

Wally Richardson threw two touchdown passes and Curtis Enis ran 39 yards for another Saturday as No. 15 Penn State beat the 11th-ranked Wildcats 34-9 and ended their 13-game Big Ten winning streak.

For the past month, the Wildcats (7-2, 5-1 Big Ten) made a habit of nerve-wracking victories, coming back in the final minutes to beat Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois in running up a seven-game winning streak after a season-opening loss at Wake Forest.

Playing before a crowd of 96,596 at Beaver Stadium, and amid intermittent snow flurries, the Wildcats met their match against the Nittany Lions (8-2, 4-2).

Penn State intercepted three of Steve Schnur's passes, recovered two fumbles -- one by Schnur -- and broke numerous tackles to set up most of its points. Safety Kim Herring had two interceptions and caused a fumble that set up a first-quarter TD and sparked the Lions to a 27-3 halftime lead.

The loss, Northwestern's first in a league game since a 45-17 rout by Penn State in the final game of the 1994 season, knocked the Wildcats out of the Rose Bowl picture and dimmed their hopes for a top bowl alliance game. Penn State, meanwhile, kept its big bowl hopes alive.

With Enis breaking two tackles on his 39-yard score and Aaron Harris adding a 1-yard TD run, the Lions jumped to a 14-0 first-quarter lead. In the second half, the Lions pressured Schnur and finished with seven sacks for 54 yards -- three by tackle Brandon Noble.

Richardson, benched in favor of Mike McQueary last week in a 48-26 win over Indiana, was 11-of-22 for 201 yards, with TD passes of 63 yards Joe Jurevicius in the second quarter and 7 yards to Joe Nastasi in the third. Enis had 21 carries for 167 yards -- his first 100-yard game in five weeks.

Schnur, who came in completing 65 percent of his passes, was 20-of-47 for 272 yards and a TD -- a 78-yarder to D'Wayne Bates with 12:51 left in the game. He had only 51 yards passing in the first half. Darnell Autry, who missed last week's game with a separated shoulder, carried 22 times for 104 yards.

The Lions took a 24-point halftime lead thanks to shabby tackling and three Wildcats turnovers.

Richardson started well with a 51-yard completion to Jurevicius on the third play of the game. The Lions failed to score, but the next time they got the ball, Enis scored with 4:05 left in the period. He shook off an attempted tackle by safety Mike Nelson just past the line of scrimmage and stayed in bounds when cornerback Hudahaifa Ismaeli tried to push him out at the 15.

Five seconds later, the Lions had the ball back when Ismaeli fumbled the kickoff on a hard hit by safety Kim Herring and fullback Anthony Cleary recovered at the Wildcats 19. Six plays later, fullback Aaron Harris dived over from a yard out with 57 seconds left in the quarter.

After Brian Gowins' 44-yard field goal cut the lead to 14-3, Richardson hooked up with Jurevicius on a 63-yard scoring play. The split end caught the ball near the Northwestern 35 and cornerback Gerald Conoway failed to make the tackle and Jurevicius outran the secondary to make it 21-3.

Schnur's pass was intercepted by Herring at the Wildcats 37 and Conway hit a 46-yard field goal with 6:20 left in the half.

Penn State struck one more time. Schnur fumbled when sacked by linebacker Aaron Collins, and defensive tackle Matt Fornadel scooped up the ball and ran 13 yards to the 19. Conway added a 39-yard field goal.