Evan Royster broke a tie with a 38-yard touchdown run, Deon Butler caught a debatable 30-yard TD pass and Penn State erased an early 14-point deficit to beat Texas A&M 24-17 on Saturday night at the Alamo Bowl.

Paterno, college football's leader in bowl appearances (34), led the Nittany Lions (9-4) in a thriller that brought him his record 23rd postseason win. The 81-year-old coach now has 372 career victories, one behind Florida State's Bobby Bowden for the most in major college football.

"It was a good tough game," Paterno said after the game surrounded by jubilant Nittany Lions. "If I had a choice, I'm glad we won."

Penn State's Rodney Kinlaw ran for 143 yards on 21 carries and Royster finished with 65 on nine carries.

Nervously pacing the sideline in his standard khakis and black sneakers, Paterno couldn't breathe easy until the clock ticked down to zero in a roller coaster of a game.

Texas A&M's Stephen McGee led a 15-play drive to the Penn State 2 before losing 4 yards on fourth-and-goal after slipping on an option play with about eight minutes left.

Another Texas A&M (7-6) drive ended with a punt with 2 minutes left, and Penn State ran out the clock.

The Nittany Lions secured their third straight bowl victory and spoiled Gary Darnell's one-game stint as interim head coach. Darnell took over Nov. 23, when Dennis Franchione resigned, and A&M has hired Mike Sherman, currently offensive coordinator for the Houston Texans, take over as head coach in 2008.

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