STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Polishing off Joe Paterno's greatest nemesis, No. 3 Penn State ended a dozen years of disappointment against Michigan.

Behind the running of Evan Royster and a few momentum-shifting plays by the defense and special teams, the Nittany Lions withstood the Wolverines' early flurry and snapped a nine-game losing streak to their Big Ten rivals, 46-17 today.

Paterno wasn't on the field to enjoy his team's highest-scoring game against Michigan, relegated to working from the press box for a third consecutive week because of a sore hip and leg. Surely, his 380th victory looked just as good from the bird's-eye view.

Even more important for JoePa's team: When the first BCS standings come out on Sunday, Penn State should be no worse than third.

No team had ever won as many in a row against Penn State during Paterno's 43 seasons at the helm than Michigan. But if ever there was an opportunity for the Nittany Lions (8-0, 4-0) to break the streak it was now. The struggling Wolverines (2-5, 1-2) have looked little like the winningest program in college football history in their first season under coach Rich Rodriguez.

In fact, Michigan came in a 23½-point underdog. Never before had the Wolverines been so lightly regarded by odds makers.

The Wolverines looked like a good bet early, their spread offense clicking as well as it has all season as they sped to a 17-7 lead early in the second quarter.

But Penn State (8-0, 4-0) deciphered the spread, got its own high-powered version of Rodriguez's offense rolling and delivered the knockout punch with a safety, a partially blocked punt and a forced fumble on consecutive Michigan possessions.

Jared Odrick gave Penn State its first lead of the game, 19-17, when he dragged down backup quarterback Nick Sheridan in the end zone with 4:39 left in third quarter.

The free kick set the Nittany Lions up at midfield, Royster's 21-yard run put them at the 1 and Daryll Clark sneaked in at 3:04 to make it 26-17.

Royster ran for 174 yards on 18 carries, with a 44-yard TD run in the first quarter.

A minute later, Nathan Stupar got a hand on Zoltan Mesko's punt deep in Michigan territory and Penn State turned the short kick into Kevin Kelly's 32-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth.

A little more than 60 seconds later, Aaron Maybin sacked Steven Threet, who fumbled, and Penn State took over at the Michigan 19.

Clark's second 1-yard sneak turned the final 12 minutes into a Beaver Stadium bash, with Penn State fans singing along to "Sweet Caroline" and enjoying their teams first victory against Michigan since 1996.

The Wolverines tormented the Nittany Lions over the last 12 seasons. There have been a few lopsided Michigan victories during that span, but mostly there's been heartbreak for the Nittany Lions. The last time Penn State was in the hunt for a national title in 2005, Michigan scored a touchdown on the final play to hand Paterno's team its only loss of the season.

This one couldn't have started better for Michigan. After a three-and-out for Penn State, Michigan put together maybe its best drive of the season. The 14-play, 86-yard march — Michigan's longest of the season — took over six minutes and featured all the best of Rodriguez's spread offense. The option cleared running lanes for Threet and Brandon Minor, who surpassed his season high on the drive with 42 yards rushing.

Minor finished it off with a 5-yard TD.

A Penn State fumble led to a 27-yard field goal by K.C. Lopata and the Nittany Lions faced their largest deficit.

After Royster's 44-yard TD romp, Michigan went on the march again.

Another near-flawless drive by the Wolverines, this one 78 yards, was capped by Minor's 1-yard plunge and made it 17-7 early in the second quarter. Minor had 117 yards on 23 carries

Even Penn State fans must been wondering if the mere sight of those winged helmets had their team mystified.

Michigan had 185 yards in the first quarter, and only 106 the rest of the way.

When Clark found Jordan Norwood for a 3-yard touchdown pass with 23 seconds left in the half to make it 17-14, it seemed as if Penn State had come through the worst of it and grabbed control of the game.