EVANSTON, Ill. -- Somewhat quietly, but ever so steadily, sophomore Derek Moye is morphing into one of the top receivers in the Big Ten.

He's long, lean and deceptively fast at 6-foot-5 and he put all of that to good use as the his Nittany Lions finally pulled away from Northwestern, 34-13.

Moye broke the Wildcats' backs with a 53-yard catch-and-run down the right side with just over 10 minutes to play.

But, overall, he was simply too much for an opponent again, producing six receptions for 123 yards -- tying his career-best for receptions for the third-straight game and going over 100 yards for the third time this fall.

He was the one who lobbied hard for that decisive, long touchdown play, too. Northwestern's defensive backs

Penn State quarterback Daryll Clark scores a touchdown during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game against Northwestern in Evanston, Ill., Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009.(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) (Nam Y. Huh)
were starting to play him tighter as the game wore on so he implored quarterback Daryll Clark to call a long streak play his way.

Clark told the coaches.

And with the Lions only up by a touchdown late, they went along with the advice and called it.

"We all know when they're down we got to do what we can to knock them down for good," Clark said.

Moye made a nice double move on the Wildcat defensive back and raced free toward the end zone on the play.

All Clark had to do was loft a pass well enough his way, which he did.

Moye cradled the ball and ran into the end zone free and clear, basically putting things out of reach.

"Moye's tough," Joe Paterno said afterwards. "He's got more speed than you realize, and he's got those big, long arms."

Road warriors: The Lions are now 7-1 away from home the past two seasons.

Streak on:The Lions are now 11-0 when Evan Royster runs for at least 100 yards.

It's been a while: Jared Odrick's block of a field goal try late in the first half was the first by a Penn State player since Odrick blocked one against Florida International in the opener in 2007.

More Royster: His 118 rushing yards moved him past Eric McCoo into 11th place on Penn State's all-time list.

Good

Penn State quarterback Daryll Clark celebrates after scoring a touchdown during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game against Northwestern in Evanston, Ill. on Saturday. (Associated Press -- Nam Y. Huh)
company: Daryll Clark's 2-yard touchdown run in the second quarter was the 20th of his career, tying him with Michael Robinson for the all-time lead.

More Daryll: He passed Robinson and Kerry Collins to move into third all-time in career total offense in school history. Only Tony Sacca and Zack Mills remain ahead. His 12th career game of 200-plus passing yards also moves him into third place, behind Collins and Mills, both with 16.

It finally happened: The Lions trailed at halftime, 13-10, for the first time all season.

He's back: Senior linebacker Sean Lee made his first start since the Temple game on Sept. 19 because of a knee injury. He led the Lions on Saturday with 12 tackles and moved into fifth place all-time at Penn State, tying Dennis Onkotz with 287.

Breaking through: Sophomore tailback Brandon Beachum scored his first touchdown of the season early in the fourth quarter, giving Penn State a 20-13 lead.

We like it here: Penn State now has a 26-6 record all-time against teams from Illinois, including a 14-3 mark vs. Illinois and 10-3 vs. the Wildcats.

Where was everyone? The announced crowd watching in tiny Ryan Field was 30,546 -- but there seemed to be far too many empty seats to even make that possible.

In the clutch: Coming into the game, Penn State was leading the Big Ten and was No. 3 nationally by converting 53.6 percent of its third-down opportunities.

But the Lions were only 3-of-10 in such situations on Saturday.

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