In a season that will forever be remembered as the "Shock the Nation Tour", perhaps nobody was more shocked than the Longhorns fans back in Austin when Penn State quarterback Tony Sacca'a last second pass fell harmlessly to the ground in the end zone.

Texas 17 Penn State 13.

After four straight season-opening losses, the Longhorns had finally pulled out a win to start the season - against a ranked team no less.

The fact that the Longhorns would beat a Joe Paterno team with a strong running game, good defense and a lack of miscues, gave an early clue that the 1990 version of the Longhorns would be the best team that David McWilliams ever fielded in his five-year stint as Texas head coach.

"We shocked the world," Texas safety Lance Gunn screamed repeatedly after the game. "We shocked the world!"

After trailing 7-6 at halftime, the Longhorns took control of the game when sophomore running back Adrian Walker returned the opening kickoff of the third quarter 88 yards to the Penn State six-yard line to set up the Longhorns only touchdown of the day.

On the very next play, Chris Samuels took a pitch from sophomore quarterback Peter Gardere and sprinted six yards in to the end zone to give the Longhorns their first lead. Seconds later Gardere connected with Keith Cash for a two-point conversion to give the Longhorns a 14-7 lead.

"When Texas returned that kickoff to start the second half, it was like icing on the cake," Paterno said after the game.

Once the Longhorns took the lead, the Texas running game, led by redshirt freshman running back Phil Brown, took over the tempo of the game. In his first career start, Brown rushed for 95 yards on 14 carries to lead the Longhorn's offensive attack.

"He's a big-time back and he'll be playing on Sundays some day," Texas offensive coordinator Lynn Amedee said, while noting that Brown reminded him of former University of Florida star Emmitt Smith.

While the offense did the things that it needed to do to win the game, the real star on this day was the Longhorn defense. Led by linebacker Brian Jones, defensive end Oscar Giles and linebacker Anthony Curl, the Texas defense refused to break as it limited the Nittany Lions to only 13 first downs, while forcing two big turnovers.

Penn State's only touchdown came in the opening moments of the contest after Nittany Lion running back Gary Brown returned the opening kickoff back 95 yards to the Texas three-yard line, setting up a short touchdown run that gave the Nittany Lions an early 7-0 lead.

After that, the Longhorns defense took command of the game.

"We knew we were going to beat Penn State today," Jones said after the game.

That might have been true, but the win didn't come without a last second scare, as Sacca led the Nittany Lions from their own 25-yard line to the Texas 27-yard line in the closing moments. The Nittany Lions had one last shot for victory after Stanley Richard and Gunn collided with Penn State tight end Rick Sayles, which stopped the clock and allowed Penn State to throw one last pass into the end zone.

However, Sacca's pass that was intended for Al Golden was broken up by Richard and Boone Powell, causing a wild celebration that concluded with over two dozen Longhorn players dog piling each other in the end zone after the clock expired.

How big was the win for the Longhorns? Well, when you consider that the Longhorns had lost previous openers to Stanford, Auburn, BYU and Colorado, there's no doubt that a win in the season opener was huge for the team's confidence. The bad taste left by those losses helped set the stage for a period of mediocrity that Texas fans loathed.

The win over the Nittany Lions helped set the stage for one of the most memorable seasons in Longhorn history.

"We have a long way to go, but I'm telling you we did not play our best today," Giles said afterwards.

He might not have known, but the Shock the Nation Tour was just getting started.

"It's a good Texas team that played well. They ran hard, and the quarterback is much, much better. We got licked." - Penn State coach Joe Paterno.

"We won this game before we hit the field. We just had the attitude that we were going to win." - Texas defensive back Stanley Richard.

"The team that deserved to win won today. We weren't organized at the end. Texas was a better team today." - Penn State cornerback Tisen Thomas.

"We're definitely a Top 20 team. Don't you think so?" - Texas linebacker Brian Jones to reporters after the game .