COLUMBUS -- O settle and let me tell you a tale of Sir Zack the Fair, a white clad knight brave and true, and his test in Southern Ohio.

For a year and a half, stories of the young lad's bravery were passed back and forth across the continent, and lo, was his greatness unquestioned. From his first emergence in the Kingdom of Evanston, when he rallied the Nittany Lions to beat back the Wildcats he was viewed as the blessed one, come to lead Penn State back from the Wilderness.

Ah, and Sir Zack never failed to deliver.

Through injury and adversity, with hulking warriors bearing down on the spriteful youth, Sir Zack performed admirably. When he was at his best, Sir Zack would vanquish opponents with the greatest of ease. How tired those naredowells would be after the game, huffing and puffing from chasing the virtuous one back and forth across the field of battle.

But a true warrior is measured not on his strongest day, but on his weakest. And on a Saturday inside a concrete tournament grounds in Ohio, Sir Zack was at his weakest.

The Buckeyes, one of the teams upon which Sir Zack built his reputation as a giant-slayer a year ago, threw things at him he'd never seen. Turned one of their own weapons, Chris Gamble, into a defender as part of a plan to thwart him. Afterwards, the Buckeyes were unapologetic.

Linebacker Matt Wilhelm was so bold as to come out and say, "We wanted to force Zack Mills to beat us with the pass because we thought he couldn't do that."

Such defiance. In the past, Sir Zack forced teams to pay for such oversight. But not Saturday. Instead, Mills didn't reach 100 yards passing and finished with three interceptions. A fourth pick was called back thanks to a questionable roughing the passer penalty. The longest of his 14 completions on the day was 19 yards.

Part of it was that his loyal squire, tailback Larry Johnson, the one who did the dirty work for the Lions' offense while eating up yards and clock at an alarming rate, found himself just as stifled as Mills against Ohio State's defense in the 13-7 loss.

Some of it was just dumb luck. Mills' second interception was nothing more than a pop fly that ricocheted off receiver Tony Johnson's helmet and into Gamble's waiting arms to be returned 40 yards for Ohio State's only touchdown of the day. On at least two occasions, his receivers ran the wrong route.

But some of the blame goes to the man himself, for having what Penn State football coach Joe Paterno aptly called "one of those days." At times, Mills looked rushed and at others, he appeared to be attempting to force plays that just weren't there.

Late in the third quarter, after the Buckeyes’ linemen again flushed him from the pocket, he attempted what can best be called a two-handed chest pass that by all means should have been picked off. After the play, Mills squatted, beating the earth with both hands out of frustration. This isn’t what epic heroes do.

After the game, Mills’ fellow Lions said his demeanor in the huddle never changed and, because of that, they never lost confidence in him. Clearly though, somebody did.

As the game progressed, Penn State’s play calling became decidedly more conservative. The Lions kept handing the ball to LJ despite the fact the Buckeyes had found a formula to bottle him up. When Mills was given the ball, it was to make short dump and screen passes. Looking downfield was strictly forbidden.

Fortunately for Penn State, Sir Zack wasn’t alone in his quest. The Lions’ defense was fareing much better, something no doubt helped out by Maurice Clarett’s separated shoulder (Paterno can say all he wants about how good Clarett’s back-ups were, but Clarett nearly led the team in rushing yards and he didn’t survive the first series).

As such, Saturday’s game was all about field position. With an average starting spot of his own 23-yard line, Mills wasn’t helped out much, but the defense repeatedly provided Mills with one thing — the chance to step into that role of football savior he’s become so accustomed to. Only, Sir Zack couldn’t get one foot in front of the other.

When it mattered in the fourth quarter, Penn State went three-and-out three times. The one time the Lions did manage a first down, when Penn State was given the ball at midfield thanks to safety Shawn Mayer’s interception, the drive only lasted only six plays.

Nevertheless, the defense, the same unit that forced the offense into shoot-outs earlier in the season due to an inability to stop opponents, came through.

And so, with three minutes and no time-outs remaining, Sir Zack took the field for one last push for the game-tying score. On the road, against the No. 4 team in the country. One hundred and five thousand fans screaming for his blood. One 85-yard drive to erase all the incompletions and interceptions. It seemed like the situation Mills was made for.

But no. Sacked on second down, and incomplete on fourth at which point our fallen protagonist had nothing to do but jog off the field and wait. Wait for the next time. “I played like crap pretty much at times,” Mills said. “There were times when guys ran the wrong routes on a couple of plays but on the other times it’s on me.”

Crappy yes, but every hero must have his time of pain and privation in the wilderness before he can live happily ever after. It just makes for the better story.

So check back with our Fair Knight again next year, when the scroll has been updated.