Lincoln, Neb. -- It was the same old story, just a different opponent at a different location. It was just like what the pregame Cornhusker video montage said: "Happy Valley, you have a problem."

Ultimately, it was Penn State's inability to stop the Nebraska rushing attack on defense and the Lions' lack of effectiveness with the pass and run on offense that caused the 18-10 loss to the Cornhuskers on Saturday. At times, the poor play on both sides of the ball seemed to blend into a vicious cycle.

"We played hard. We hung in there. We couldn't do some things," Penn State football coach Joe Paterno said. "We're still not very precise on offense but I thought the defensive kids hung in there tough. I thought Nebraska played a really good game. They didn't stop themselves. We were playing really good defense, we kept them in a lot of third down situations."

The most telling statistic of the night was the 337 rushing yards given up by the Penn State defense. Even more telling was the fact that of all 78 offensive plays called by the Cornhuskers, 72 of them were rushing attempts. It was no secret from the opening kickoff that Nebraska was going to utilize its attack from the ground the entire night, yet Penn State never quite effectively contained the run, giving up 5.1 yards per carry.

"Most of the things they were running, they were staying right up the gut with it and a couple options here and there," Penn State defensive end Lavon Chisley said. "I really couldn't tell you what their offensive line was doing special. They were just mostly running inside."

Paterno pointed again to the overall youth of the defense as the main reason for the lopsided statistics. It was the third game in a row where the Penn State defense has given up over four yards per carry.

"Sometime when I felt like we stopped them, I looked up at the board and they still got four yards," defensive tackle Scott Paxson said. "There's nothing that really sticks out in my mind. We knew what they were going to do. We knew they weren't going to pass. Time after time, they ran the ball right up the gut."

There was a cyclical relationship between the offensive and defensive corps. Because the offensive never truly established a rhythm and was rarely on the field for a long period of time, the defense had much less time than usual to recover on the sidelines.

At no point in the game was this more evident than at the start of the third quarter, when Nebraska systematically marched 80 yards down the field on 16 plays for a score. At no point in that drive did the Cornhuskers air the ball out; every play was a run. Nebraska simply wore down a youthful Penn State front four with a conservative, smash-mouth style of running.

"We have to be patient, but we have to go out and do what we have to do," Paxson said. "We might be young in age, but we have to get it done."

Nebraska kept possession of the ball for two-thirds of the game. The tired and worn-out defensive front never truly had a chance to regain energy, especially in the second half. That's when the Cornhuskers took the ball right to them. Penn State was beat at its own game.

"You have to at the very least get a couple of first downs," quarterback Zack Mills said. "You need to give the defense some rest. They were battling the whole game. That whole drive in the third quarter, they were battling. You just have to move the football a little bit and give them time to rest."

On the offensive side of the ball, the blackshirts were able to neutralize the Lions' running and passing games. This was caused by the various blitzing packages that the Cornhuskers presented to Penn State that often confused and hurried Mills. Specifically, the blitzes prevented Mills from dumping the ball off or hitting his fullback or tight end in the flat. Instead, he looked to the quick, three-step drop slant passes that were largely ineffective.

"We're still having trouble coordinating against the blitz," Paterno said. "They had an awful lot of blitzes in there. We dropped some passes that certainly could have been held. We're playing a lot of wide outs and the whole bit and the offensive line, they're having trouble."

Statistically, Mills did not have an awful outing, completing 16 of 33 for 159 yards. However, it was not until the final two minutes of the first half that he looked like he was throwing with any confidence or rhythm. Nebraska's solid defensive performance limited the number of big-play opportunities for the Lions.

"Nebraska made us play very patient offensively," Mills said. "We only had 4 or 5 times to get a big play. We just waited for our chances."

Problem was, those chances never came.