The Syracuse Orange weren't given much of a chance against the #8 Nittany Lions in Happy Valley, but the Orange very nearly pulled off what would have been an incredible upset. Unfortunately, the veteran leadership of QB Darryl Clark allowed Penn State to ultimately prevail.

The Orange jumped out to an early 7 - 0 lead on their first possession of the game, a long drive that ended with a 1-yard TD run by Delone Carter. Penn State did not score its first points until the 2nd quarter when backup RB Stephfon Green took it in from 2 yards out to tie the game at 7.

Syracuse briefly went back ahead on a late first half field goal, but Penn State responded with a long drive led by Darryl Clark, who found Chaz Powell in the end zone for a 15-yard TD, which gave the Nittany Lions a 14 - 10 halftime lead.

It looked as though Penn State was going to finally run away with it when Stephfon Green scored his 2nd TD of the game in the 3rd quarter to make it 20 - 10, but with under a minute to go in the 3rd quarter, Syracuse Safety Max Suter jumped in front of a Darryl Clark pass, picked it off, and returned it 54 yards for a TD to pull the Orange to within 3. Clark claims he never even saw Suter who was hiding in zone coverage and made a play on the ball at the last second.

In the 4th quarter, Penn State drove down again and were looking to go back up by 2 scores, but a key holding penalty forced them to settle for a field goal to put the lead at 23 - 17. Syracuse had the ball deep in their own territory and were completely unable to move the ball, forcing them to punt. Punter Rob Long punted it deep, but the return man was leveled by Dale Peterman and lost the ball, which was fallen on by the Syracuse Special Teams. The Orange capitalized on the turnover, as they drove down and took the lead on a 19-yard scamper by Carter.

However, the veteran Penn State QB Darryl Clark remained cool under pressure as he has done so many times in his career, and easily drove the Nittany Lions down the field in just over a minute to reclaim the lead on a 6-yard TD pass.

The Orange got the ball back with a chance to win, but 2 sacks and a last-dtich Hail Mary pass that fell to the ground incomplete had the upset bid fall short, as Penn State won 29 - 24.

Overall, the Syracuse Head Coach was very pleased with his team's effort, and despite the loss and 0 -2 start to the season, is optimistic his team is headed in the right direction.

"A couple more breaks here and there, and we're talking about how we're not just headed in the right direction, but ahead of schedule - knocking off a top ten school on the road would have been a giant leap for this program, but even just playing well and having a chance to win it against quality schools like Minnesota and Penn State shows that our guys are learning and giving effort. Now we just need to find a way to create those 1 or 2 more plays to get us the victories."

Next week, Syracuse concludes its 3-game Big Ten tour, as they host the Northwestern Wildcats. A victory would give the Orange an excellent chance to climb up to a .500 record before the Big East schedule begins in Week 5.