UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- While Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor earned the biggest victory of his young career yesterday, Penn State's Daryll Clark suffered through yet another big-game meltdown.

Pryor, a sophomore quarterback from Jeannette High School, threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as No. 15 Ohio State trounced No. 11 Penn State, 24-7, yesterday before 110,033 fans at Beaver Stadium.

"It's exciting," said Pryor, who chose Ohio State over Penn State two years ago. "No words can describe how I'm feeling right now. I'm just so happy for these guys."

Pryor, making his first trip to Happy Valley as a visiting player, evened his record at 1-1 against the Lions (8-2, 4-2) while helping the Buckeyes (8-2, 5-1) forge a first-place tie with Iowa (9-1, 5-1) atop the Big Ten Conference standings.

The Buckeyes also snapped Penn State's five-game winning streak and helped put an end to the Lions' hopes of repeating as Big Ten champions and earning a Bowl Championship Series bid.

"They gave us a good lickin'," Penn State coach Joe Paterno said.

The much-maligned Pryor completed just 8 of 17 passes for 125 yards, but he threw two second-half touchdown passes as Ohio State broke open a tight game.

He tossed a 62-yard scoring strike to wide receiver DeVier Posey late in the third quarter and a 6-yarder to tailback Brandon Saine in the fourth.

Pryor also scored on a 7-yard run in the first quarter.

"You got to give him credit," said Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley, who exchanged a few text messages with Pryor last week. "I thought he played well and made good decisions."

Clark, a senior from Youngstown, Ohio, finished his career without a victory against his home-state Buckeyes.

He also continued to struggle in big games, completing just 12 of 28 passes for 125 yards. He threw one interception and rushed 11 times for 20 yards and a touchdown.

Clark was sacked twice as the Lions managed a season-low 201 yards and nine first downs. He also failed to throw a touchdown pass for the first time in five games.

"He's had better games," Paterno said.

Tailback Evan Royster, who injured his right knee while trying to catch a pass in pregame warm-ups, finished with a season-low 36 yards on 13 carries.

Simply put, Ohio State's front four dominated Penn State's offensive line, which lost left guard Johnnie Troutman on two different occasions to a strained calf.

"We were just in a little bit of disarray the whole game," Clark said.

Ohio State defensive end Cameron Heyward, son of former Pitt standout Craig "Ironhead" Heyward, was a one-man wrecking crew for the Buckeyes, finishing with a team-leading 11 tackles and two sacks.

"It hurts to lose," said Royster, who had run for 100 yards or more in four of the previous five games. "We couldn't execute. We couldn't get the running game going."

Ray Small's 41-yard punt return to the 9 helped set up Pryor's first touchdown on the Buckeyes' second series.

Ohio State stretched its lead to 17-7 with 1:47 to go in the third when Pryor found a wide-open Posey streaking down the left sideline. He ran past Penn State cornerback D'Anton Lynn at the line of scrimmage and free safety Nick Sukay was late in getting over with help as Posey caught the ball at the 17 and went into the end zone untouched.

Pryor found Saine in the end zone on a third-down play for the final score.

Penn State's lone touchdown came on Clark's 1-yard sneak on a fourth-down play early in the second that tied the score, 7-7. It was the 21st rushing touchdown of Clark's career, a school record.

Other than that, there weren't many highlights for the Lions, who surrendered a season-high in points, 228 yards rushing and 353 yards offense.

"We can't let this one put a damper on our whole season," outside linebacker Navorro Bowman said.

•

NOTES -- Outside linebacker Sean Lee had a team-leading 14 tackles for Penn State, which was held without a sack for the first time this season. ... Devin Barclay kicked a 37-yard field goal for the Buckeyes. ... Penn State's Jeremy Boone punted a season-high 10 times for a 45.8-yard average. ... The Buckeyes racked up 130 yards in punt returns against the Lions' coverage unit, which ranks 113th among 120 Division I-A teams. ... Ohio State beat a ranked team for the first time this season.

Ron Musselman's Penn State blog and videos are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.