It's happened too many times this season.

Penn State's defense does its job on first down. Then again on second down. Only to allow, with the Beaver Stadium crowd on its feet screaming and the opponent's punter stretching out his hamstring, somebody breaking a play big to move the chains.

Then the process repeats itself.

The Nittany Lions might have been able to get away with allowing their opponents a fresh four nearly half of the time against teams like Central Florida and Louisiana Tech, but last Saturday's loss to Iowa illustrated that sort of thing will not fly in the Big Ten.

"It's been haunting us all season long," cornerback Bryan Scott said. "Every single game it seems like third down, third-and-long, third-and-short we give it up."

It's not just that Penn State has allowed opponents to pick up first downs, but that the Lions have allowed them when they have teams seemingly pinned in third-and-long situations.

For example, on Iowa's first drive of the game, the Lions had the Hawkeyes at a third and 14 only to let quarterback Brad Banks scramble 17 yards before stepping out of bounds. What's more, Penn State coach Joe Paterno thinks that by this point in the season, his squad's problems aren't physical but mental.

"When you look at it, we appear to be sound but we make some mental mistakes," Paterno said. "You have to be careful it doesn't become a phobia. I think we have to fight our way out of."

With that in mind, the Lions have spent their week trying to come up with ways to combat their third-down deficiency.

While the Lions won't be changing up their coverage packages, something that is determined as much by injuries to defensive backs that have forced Chris Harrell into the starting hero position, they have worked on defenders taking care of their assignments and anticipating what the offense is trying to do.

"One thing we've concentrated on more is the recognition of the plays, knowing what plays are going to come before the ball is snapped," linebacker Derek Wake said. "There's nothing specifically wrong, I just think we need a little more hustle, a little more intensity to get the ball stopped."

However, if what the players are saying can be believed, stopping third down in practice has never been a problem, it's only when the game counts that problems arise.

"It kind of happens in the heat of the game," Scott said. "We have third-down scrimmages in practice where every down is third down. We fare pretty well in practice -- I don't know what the deal is in game time."

If the Lions want to find success in Madison tomorrow, they'd better find out.