BIG TEN Johnson leads Penn State victory

The Nittany Lions running back rushed for 279 yards and one touchdown in the 18-7 win over Illinois.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) -- Larry Johnson has the two best rushing performances in Penn State history. He's still not satisfied.
Johnson ran for 279 yards to break his own school record and scored on an 84-yard run as No. 20 Penn State beat Illinois 18-7 Saturday, making the Nittany Lions bowl eligible for the first time in three years.
Johnson had a second 84-yard touchdown run called back because of a holding penalty early in the fourth quarter. With a 10-yard run in the third quarter, he broke the school record of 257 yards he set two weeks ago against Northwestern. But Johnson fumbled the ball to Illinois' Derrick Strong on the play.
"When they talk about when I broke my record, they're not going to talk about the long run that was called back or the runs before that," Johnson said. "They're going to talk about the fumble that I had to break the record, and that sticks in my mind more than anything else."
Snap consecutive losing streak
The Nittany Lions (6-3, 3-3 Big Ten) were coming off consecutive losing seasons for the first time in coach Joe Paterno's career.
But Paterno, whose 333 career wins are the most in Division I-A history -- four ahead of Florida State's Bobby Bowden -- played down the bowl issue, saying he was more concerned with next week's game against Virginia.
"I'm sure when they start talking about things they'll be anxious to go somewhere -- and I'll be anxious to go with them," Paterno said. "But really I haven't thought about it. We've got three games coming up."
The Fighting Illini (3-6, 2-3) struggled on offense, despite entering the game leading the conference in average yards at 463.9 per game.
Johnson's scoring run came late in the first quarter, when he waited for a hole, then shrugged off three leg tackles before sprinting down the left sideline to the end zone.
"Larry is a very good back," Illinois tackle Brett Kautter said. "You're not going to arm tackle him. You really have to hit him, and we didn't do that."
Longest run of career
It was the longest run of Johnson's career and put him over the 1,000 mark for the season, making him just the ninth Penn State player to reach the mark, and the first since Curtis Enis ran for 1,363 yards in 1997.
"We knew coming in that would be one of the keys to the game, to slow down their running game, and obviously we couldn't do that," Illinois coach Ron Turner said. "You can't give a guy 300 rushing yards and win the football game."
Jon Beutjer replaced Dustin Ward at quarterback late in the third quarter and led the Fighting Illini back into the game in the fourth quarter. Kenny Boyle caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from Beutjer to make it 18-7 with 5:22 left, then the Illinois defense stopped Sean McHugh on third-and-1, forcing Penn State to punt.
But Beutjer's pass to Aaron Moorehead was tipped by Jimmy Kennedy and intercepted in the end zone by Anwar Phillips, allowing Penn State to run out the clock.