No. 15 Ohio St Beats No. 11 Penn St, 24-7

Terrelle Pryor tiptoed his way around the Penn State defense, then smiled and danced all over the Beaver Stadium turf.

Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor dives into the end zone for a touchdown against Penn State during the first half of an NCAA college football game in State College, Pa., Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

(AP)

Quite the happy homecoming Saturday for the dual-threat phenom from western Pennsylvania.

Pryor threw for two touchdowns and ran for another in his first game back in his home state and No. 15 Ohio State reclaimed control of the Big Ten race after beating No. 11 Penn State, 24-7 in a duel of the league's top two defenses.

As an added bonus, the Buckeyes (8-2, 5-1) vaulted into a tie for the conference lead with Iowa after Northwestern handed the Hawkeyes its first loss of the season earlier Saturday.

After a demoralizing loss at Purdue last month, Ohio State's hopes for a fifth straight league title look much brighter. A showdown with Iowa at the Horseshoe awaits next week.

"November is for contenders, we always say that," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. "It's hard to get too ecstatic right now because you know the Hawkeyes are coming to town."

They'll head home to Columbus with a confident Pryor, the native of Jeannette who came up with several clutch plays against the team he turned down as a highly touted high school prospect.

On Saturday, Pryor showed Happy Valley why he was such a prize. He finished 8 for 17 passing for 125 yards, and rushed for 50 yards and a 7-yard TD on five carries.

"It was huge. They were making a big deal about it and people were doubting us, 'Buckeyes can't do this or this.' A lot of that stuff motivates us, but we knew we could do it," Pryor said.

Ray Small burned Penn State (8-2, 4-2) with two long punt returns, and Ohio State's defense held dangerous Penn State quarterback Daryll Clark in check with constant pressure.

The Buckeyes scored the game's final 17 points to silence the crowd of 110,033, the fourth-largest in Beaver Stadium history.

"We broke down on a kicking play, had a couple tough penalties, we didn't get any field position," Penn State coach Joe Paterno said. "It was a tough ballgame for us, it really was, against a good football team."