A Beaver Stadium whiteout crowd and the 14th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions welcomed the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and true-freshman quarterback Jimmy Clausen, who was making the first start of his collegiate career.
Notre Dame struck first on a 73-yard interception return by cornerback Darrin Walls (3:04-mark), silencing the 110,078 who comprised of the second-largest crowd in Beaver Stadium history. Penn State wide receiver Derrick Williams tied the game at 7-7 on an electrifying 78-yard punt return (5:43-mark), and a 10-yard Anthony Morelli-to-Jordan Norwood touchdown pass (7:50-mark) gave the Nittany Lions a 14-7 halftime lead. The second half began with a 68-yard A.J. Wallace kick return (8:44-mark) that led to a Kevin Kelly field goal. While the Penn State defense continued to stifle Notre Dame's offense (6 sacks, 144 yards of total offense), the Irish received their best scoring opportunity when Tom Zbikowski return a punt 47 yards to the Penn State 7-yard line (9:27-mark), but ultimately had to settle for a field goal to cut the lead to 17-10. Anthony Morelli responded with a 51-yard laser Chris Bell (10:17-mark) which set up a 1-yard Austin Scott touchdown. After All-American linebacker Dan Connor (12 tackles, 2.5 TFL) continued to dominate (11:27-mark), Penn State continued to wear down the Irish defense behind the strong running of Austin Scott (28 carries, 116 yards, 2 touchdowns), whose second touchdown opened up the final 31-10 margin (12:39-mark).
Jimmy Clausen - who did display remarkable poise for an 18-year old freshman in such a hostile environment - finished the game 17 of 32, for 144 yards with 1 interception, and was sacked 6 times.