STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Penn State's Larry Johnson became the ninth running back in NCAA Division I-A history to gain 2,000 yards in a season Saturday when he gained an amazing 279 yards in the first half against Michigan State.

	Larry Johnson ran for four touchdowns and 279 yards -- in the first half.

Johnson scored four touchdowns as the Nittany Lions went ahead 48-0.

Johnson became the first Penn State back to surpass 2,000 on his final touchdown run, from 38 yards out. That pushed his season total to 2,015 yards on 251 carries, setting an NCAA record with an average of 8.02 yards per carry. The previous record was 7.8, set by Nebraska's Mike Rozier in 1983.

The Nittany Lions got the ball back with a minute left in the half, and Johnson ran onto the field with the rest of the offense, but he came back to the sideline, to cheers from the crowd.

Johnson entered the game with 1,736 yards after breaking the Penn State single-game record three times this season, most recently with his 327-yard effort against Indiana last week.

He had 257 yards against Northwestern on Oct. 19 and gained 279 yards against Illinois on Nov. 2.

The senior came into the season with just 866 yards for his career. He spent the last two seasons as part of an ineffective three-back rotation, sharing time with Omar Easy and Eric McCoo. Johnson had 358 rushing yards as a sophomore and 337 yards last year, and the Nittany Lions had consecutive losing seasons for the first time in coach Joe Paterno's career.

Barry Sanders holds the I-A single-season record with 2,628 yards in 1988 for Oklahoma State. Troy Davis accomplished the feat twice for Iowa State, in 1995 (2,010 yards) and 1996 (2,185).

The others who have topped the mark are Marcus Allen of USC (2,342 in 1981), LaDainian Tomlinson of TCU (2,158 in 2000), Mike Rozier of Nebraska (2,158 in 1983), Ricky Williams of Texas (2,124 in 1998), Byron Hanspard of Texas Tech (2,084 in 1996) and Rashaan Salaam of Colorado (2,055 in 1994).