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That's all there is to do when perhaps the best college quarterback in the country is staring down your defense. There it was, only 12 yards and Sandusky's withering Nittany Lions defense standing between a game-winning touchdown by Purdue.

First-and-10 from the Penn State 12. Thirty-one seconds left. Purdue's Drew Brees ready to take four shots at the end zone. His team clinging to a six-point lead and, oh yes, a shot at the national championship. The King of Defense, 55-years-old with 32 years at Penn State, had no clothes.

Nor a clue.

"I was just pulling things out of my hat at that stage," said Sandusky, the Penn State defensive coordinator, after surviving with a 31-25 victory over No. 16 Purdue.

It's a little more complicated than that, but not much. No. 2 Penn State is getting fairly good at this sort of thing. Saturday marked the third time this season the Nittany Lions (8-0, 4-0 in the Big Ten) have survived in the last minutes. You can take it two ways: They are either a team of destiny or a team of sorcery.

Sandusky was the mad scientist on Saturday. His Lions gave up 444 yards, 379 in the air from Brees. They kept one Boilermaker scoring drive alive by roughing the punter. On the next play, cornerback Anthony King came off the bench to make a tackle.

"I was over on the bench getting my hand taped up," King said. "They snapped the ball before I could get inside the sidelines. They threw the ball ... so I said I might as well go tackle him."

Boom, another 15-yard penalty. The goofiness ended in a field goal that allowed Purdue (5-3, 1-3) to cut the Penn State lead to 28-17 in the third quarter.

"You can become average in a hurry," Sandusky said.

But Sandusky also got magnificent play out of his defense. It forced four turnovers, three resulting in touchdowns. Butkus Award candidate LaVar Arrington sacked Brees in the second quarter, picked up the resulting fumble and romped in to tie the game at 7.

A Purdue fumble on a punt return gave Penn State the short field it needed to tie it at 14. Defensive end Courtney Brown intercepted a Brees pass and rambled 25 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter to make it 28-14.

Brees, who had been sacked five times all season, went down five times in one Saturday afternoon.

"We have the capability of doing anything we dream of," said Penn State linebacker Brandon Short, another Butkus semifinalist. "Jerry just goes with his gut feeling. He knows what we do well, he knows what we don't do well. It's good to see we can rise up in the face of adversity. That's the sign of a champion."

Sandusky doesn't need this. It's bad for the ticker. He is retiring at the end of the season with nine All-Americans (and counting) to his credit.

He's a major reason Paterno doesn't wear a head set on the sideline.

JoePa trusts his assistants to get the job done. Sandusky, don't forget, is the major reason they call Penn State "Linebacker U."

What a sendoff it would be for him to go out coaching national champions.

Two other times this season, Penn State has escaped intact. Arrington blocked a last-minute field goal against Pittsburgh. Quarterback Kevin Thompson rallied the team in the final minutes against Miami. Now this, on a day when No. 3 Nebraska lost and Penn State could have blown one of those baby steps toward the Sugar Bowl.

Short, a senior, stayed around so he could he could play under Sandusky and have his shot. Who knows, Arrington, a wildly talented junior headed for the NFL, might have done the same if Sandusky committed to 2000.

"The feeling is we can do anything," Short said. "We want to work to get better but if it comes down to the final minutes we believe in each other. We're going to come through in the clutch. Our season, our lives. We've been working for this all our lives."

But all that was jaw jacking when the game came down to one of those settings that makes you glad to be in the building. Purdue had gotten the ball back trailing 31-25 on its own 30 with 59 seconds left after Penn State's Travis Forney missed a field goal that would have iced the game.

It took only four plays for Brees to get the Boilers down to the Penn State 12.

A Big Ten linesman turned toward the sideline, smiled and yelled to no one in particular, "Is this great or what?"

It was.

Ross-Ade Stadium was rocking with 66,000 Boilermakers fans and a couple of thousand Penn State supporters who were biting their tongues and holding their breath.

Sandusky reached into that hat. First, there would be man-to-man coverage in the secondary. Of that he was certain. Penn State had come too far to gamble the season on a zone.

Vinny Sutherland congratulates Purdue's Drew Brees after the game.(AP)

"It all rushes through your head at once," safety David Macklin said. "You try to think about (the national championship). You try to think about the things at hand. We knew that Drew Brees was going to try to get in the end zone somehow. If you don't play man against a team like Purdue at the goal line they'll eat you alive."

First down: This is where it gets fuzzy. Sandusky doesn't know what he called. Brees' pass to Randall Lane was knocked down by King.

Second down: Sandusky ordered a five-man rush. The crowd howled when it thought Lane was interfered with in the end zone. The ball was ruled uncatchable.

Third down: Zone blitz. A Penn State lineman pulled out at the snap and covered a receiver while a linebacker shot through a gap. It worked. Brees was flushed and floated toward the right sideline. For one brief moment, he looked like Joe Montana in the 1981 NFC Championship game against Dallas.

There was no Dwight Clark on the end line, though, this time. Brees threw out of the end zone.

Fourth down: Sandusky had to go for it. He sent seven men. Four defensive backs were left on their own. It was the essence of Saturday's game. Sandusky was gambling his guys could reach Brees before he could make a play.

"You're thinking this is the season," King said. "You don't want your season to be ruined because of you. You're thinking, 'I'm not going to be the reason why we lose this game.' "

He wasn't. Brees looked left, throwing what looked like a perfect fade in the end zone to Chris Daniels, but corner Bhawoh Jue boxed out Daniels. The ball sailed out of bounds. Game over. Somewhere amid the din, Sandusky smiled.

"I was looking for a flag," Short said. "No flag. I just fell down and went, 'Whew, my heart's still beating.'

So is the pulse in Penn State's season.