Penn State's flaws exposed

STATE COLLEGE - A half-full Beaver Stadium, with less than 2 minutes to go, was silent.

As the impressive homecoming crowd of 102,910 whittled down, thousands of noticeably shocked students stuck around until the end.

In the front row of the student section, a handful of fans, caked in peeling white and blue paint, spelled out on their stomachs, "We are Penn State." Some gazed out onto the field without expression. One covered his face with a white Penn State T-shirt as the clock wound down.

The clock ran out, and Penn State players, defeated by Northwestern, 29-6, made their way over to the student section like they always do.

But this was different from the other two home games this season.

There was no inspired postgame singing of the alma mater, no ringing of the victory bell, and, for the first time this year, no smiling, exuberant James Franklin.

The Nittany Lions, entering the weekend undefeated and 10-point favorites over the Wildcats, had hoped to go 5-0 before their first bye week, with a road game at Michigan the week after. It wasn't meant to be.

Franklin, since his hiring on Jan. 11, seemingly had yet to hit a roadblock in his short but eventful tenure at Penn State.

Franklin came in with an infectious attitude and smile, selling the program and wooing top-tier recruits to Happy Valley. On the sideline, the first-year coach led the Lions to a 4-0 start, including a thrilling debut in Ireland. And of course, the NCAA bowl ban and scholarship limitations that resulted from the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal were lifted just a few weeks into the season.

Everything had gone smoothly for Franklin. Saturday didn't, and he took the blame.

"I take full responsibility. We weren't ready to play," Franklin said. "We will get this fixed. I promise you and guarantee you, we will get this fixed."

Christian Hackenberg was sacked four times and completed just 22 of 45 passes in an offense with no rhythm. The running game gained just 50 yards on 25 carries, 11 of which were Hackenberg scrambling.

On a crucial fourth-and-1 early in the fourth quarter, running back Bill Belton was stuffed for a loss of 2 after two Penn State linemen blocked each other.

It was that kind of day for Franklin's Lions.

Blocking teammates was a new twist, but those aforementioned issues aren't new concerns: the offensive line has struggled keeping Hackenberg off the ground; the running game hasn't been trusted in games that weren't virtually guaranteed victories, and the offense as a whole has appeared out of sync.

"Let's be honest, we haven't played pretty all year long," Franklin said. "It caught up to us today against a good, solid, well-coached, hard-nosed team."

Said defensive tackle Austin Johnson: "Lose by one or lose by 100, it doesn't matter. You've got to move forward. You have got to forget about it. Otherwise it's just going to hang with you."

With a bye week coming up, the loss might linger for quite some time. But that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Saturday marked this season's first hiccup for the Lions, but Hackenberg tried to look on the bright side.

"We're 4-1. We didn't necessarily play our best football, so we just have to try to continue to reach that goal," he said. "We have a few more opportunities coming up, so we're excited about that."

Franklin said the word "fixed" - as in, "We need to get this fixed" - at least nine times in his postgame press conference.

They'll need to change something over the next couple of weeks if Franklin wants to be smiling Oct. 11 in Ann Arbor.