Eleven years. A lot has happened in the past eleven years. The American people have been through two different presidential administrations, Catholics got a new pope, Y2K struck fear in the hearts of millions, the Red Sox won the World Series TWICE and the iPod made its debut. Also, in that eleven years, Penn State was never able to beat Michigan. The last meetings between the Nittany Lions and the Wolverines have resulted in heart break for the blue and white side. But us Penn State fans, this year, instead of wiping away tears of sorrow are wiping away tears of happiness, for our Nittany Lions finally managed to beat the Michigan Wolverines.

The Lions beat the Wolverines Saturday evening, 46-17. However, the score doesn't reflect the struggle the Nittany Lions experienced. Penn State started out slow, I mean really slow, so slow we wondered if this was a different team on the field. The offense was sloppy; dropping passes and fumbling the ball and the defense was not able to contain the Wolverines. I when I say, not able to contain, I mean the defense didn't even seem alive or aware of their surroundings. The Wolverines were able to march down field 80 yards on their second drive and score a touchdown; this had to be their best drive all year. However, after halftime, the Nittany Lions warmed up and started to look like the team we saw playing the last eight weeks.

For the offense, like I said, it started out slow. Dare I say, the Nittany Lions faced the best defense they played all year. The second attempt at a drive down field resulted in a bad snap that Darryl Clark was not able to hold on to. The offense didn't click as a unit. Passes were dropped, the ball was fumbled and they just played bad football. The team relied on kicker Kevin Kelly for most of their first half points and he, usually perfect and the all time PSU leading scorer, stumbled as well, missing a field goal; which had to be his first miss since his freshman season. But after halftime, the Nittany Lions clicked. They came out of the tunnel looking to make things happen. I mistook them for a garrison of Greek warriors preparing for battle. They got things done. Darryl Clark completed 18 of 31 passes for 171 yards and three touchdowns, with two of them rushing touchdowns. Deon Butler played one of the best games of his career catching the ball eight times for 105 yards. Evan Royster also played one of the best games of his career running the ball 18 times for 176 yards. In the second half, the Lions ran off 39 consecutive points.

For the defense, the first half was bad. They looked dazed and played as if they never saw a football before. To put it lightly, Steven Threet ran all over them. It was a sickening display. But, in the second half, they turned themselves on, which resulted in the best defensive play of the game: sacking the UM quarterback three times, pushing back that unit 20 yards and sacking the QB in his own end zone for a safety-it was a magical display. The defense really won this game for the Lions. They were finally able to contain the Wolverine offense and kept them from scoring any more points the rest of the game.

You can tell a lot about a team depending on how they respond in the clutch. And looking at this team, they just might be the best team in the nation. You could really make the case for the Nittany Lions to be ranked second in the nation this week. I hope some of the voters are reading this post. But, no matter where they are ranked, the Nittany Lions broke the streak and for Penn State fans all over the world, that's all that matters.

THE GOOD: The second half of the game

THE BAD: The first half of the game

THE UGLY: The Nittany Lions in quarter one

OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME: Deon Butler

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME: Jared Odrick

NEXT UP: The Lions travel to Columbus to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes