Back in the 11th grade, I remember studying about 30 hours before every calculus chapter test.

Near the very end of one of the harder exams, my senile old teacher left the answer key on the desk in front of me, with all the answers in red ink, large print, and circled.

Before I even realized what I was looking at, I had already taken a mental photograph of the answer key. I ended up getting an ‘A’ on the test, but I didn’t feel guilty about it.

When Brandon Horn made a one-handed catch on Brett Basanez’ egregiously underthrown pass in the endzone after two Penn State defenders collided and tipped it to him, I couldn’t help but think of how that teacher pretty much handed me that A.

Horn wasn’t going to let the ball fall to the ground and say, hey, that should have been an interception, I can’t score on something like that — just like I wasn’t going to render all my hard work worthless by refusing to submit my test (I doubt many NU students would, either). Horn caught it and put NU up for good.

Lucky? Yes. But undeserving? Certainly not.

NU deserved to win. Its defense held the Nittany Lions to seven points and — discounting a meaningless drive in the game’s final minute — kept Penn State from crossing midfield for the entire second half.