MIAMI -- Missed opportunities.

This is what had to stick in the minds of the Penn State football team after it left the warm climate of Miami for the long plane ride back to State College after a seven-point defeat at the hands of Florida State in the Blockbuster Bowl.

Four times, the offense moved the ball inside the Seminole 50-yard line and came away with no points. That made the difference.

"We had some opportunities early and we didn't take advantage of them and never got close enough that we could play our football game," Coach Joe Paterno said. "I was proud of our kids, but I wish I would have done a better job for them out there with the play selections, things like that, down on the goal line. But we had a lot of opportunities to make it and for whatever reason we didn't do it and that's to Florida State's credit."

Any other team and the Lions probably would have won the game, with so many realistic scoring chances, but the Seminoles' defense rose to the occasion when it was most necessary.

"Their defense was a lot quicker and more aggressive. They were more aggressive than any defense I've played against," tailback Gary Brown said.

"We shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times in the first half," quarterback Tony Sacca said. "A couple of times in the first half we got down there and were not able to punch it in. They applied a lot of pressure, especially down on the goal line."

The first scoring chance came in the second quarter after hero Darren Perry intercepted a Casey Weldon pass and the Lions had the ball at the Seminole 46-yard line. A 19-yard Sacca run moved the ball to the 20-yard line, and certainly the Lions expected a field goal -- maybe even a touchdown -- to trim Florida State's 10-0 lead. But this didn't happen; the Lions came away scoreless. After the drive stalled at the 9-yard line, Craig Fayak came in to attempt a field goal, only to have it blocked.

Later in the second half, the Lions let another golden opportunity slip through their hands with 3:43 left until the half. Sacca hit Dave Daniels on second down for a 26-yard gain to the Seminole 18-yard line. The Lions were rolling again. On the next play, Gary Brown ran 13 yards off right tackle to the 5. It would be 1st-and-goal -- except there was a yellow flag laying on the natural grass.

Holding, Penn State.

On the next play, from the 28, Sacca was picked off by safety Leon Fowler and the Lions had no points. Penn State went into halftime trailing 17-7, with the knowledge that the score could very well have been tied at 17.

"We didn't play well enough against the things they were doing," Paterno said. "We killed ourselves with a couple of holding penalties."

The Florida State defense, along with the inability of the Lion offense to score, were two key factors to the Seminole halftime lead.

"The constant pressure limits what we can do; we didn't execute well at certain points," Sacca said.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Lions had the ball again inside Seminole territory, at the 40-yard line, but came away with a goose egg. After Brown gained four yards on first down, that was all the Lions could muster as Sacca was sacked on third down.

This coupled with the offense's failed final chance totaled four drives inside the 50 and no points.

If there was one bright side to the loss, it was that the Lions never gave up, even until the end.

"I was proud of (the team), hanging in there," Paterno said. "There was a lot of pressure on them, they got down 10-0 in a hurry, and then 24-10. We had a chance to win it at the end."

However, a disconsolate Mark D'Onofrio found little solace in defeat.

"I'm just sick of losing to teams that we are better than," he said.