Penn State football coach Joe Paterno doesn't like to point fingers. But if he did, he would have singled out the special teams as the main reason for the loss against Wisconsin Saturday.

The special teams essentially cost the Lions 21 points. Penn State missed two field goals, an extra point, a punt return for a touchdown, and fumbled punt that set up another Wisconsin touchdown. But Paterno didn't have much to say afterwards about the struggle of his place kicker.

"You are talking to the wrong guy about kickers," Paterno said.

All aspects of special teams contributed to the loss. The two biggest culprits were Calvin Lowry, who fumbled twice, and Robbie Gould, who missed two field goals.

Paterno said he is going to talk with offensive coordinator Fran Ganter to see what has been causing Gould's problem.

"Maybe we have to change the routine a bit and put more pressure on them in practice," Paterno said.

Paterno said that part of the problem with Gould was due to the fact that the holder, Chris Ganter, had to take more snaps at quarterback with the injury of Zack Mills.

But Gould didn't believe that was the reason for missing wide right on both kicks. The second miss, a 42-yard attempt, came with six minutes remaining and was a crucial miss for the Lions trailing by only seven points.

"It does and it doesn't," Gould said. "You don't get as many reps as you would like. We just go to go out and practice hard, and I'll be able to do my job. It's just a slump, and everything will be on track."

If not, the coaching staff will be forced to decide if David Kimball should replace him as the place kicker. Gould is 2-for-7 beyond 40 yards. Lowry struggled holding on to the ball as much as Gould did kicking it. The sophomore realizes that he attempted to do too much with the ball.

"I can't speak for everyone else but for myself I know this game I was trying too hard," Lowry said. "I wasn't staying within the frame of what I can do. I mean, I made mistakes, but you have to forget about them and move on."

Lowry fumbled the kickoff after Wisconsin regained the lead, 10-9. Wisconsin's Alex Lewis supplied the hit and forced the ball free.

With the second quarter winding down, Lowry caught a punt and was fighting for extra yards when Wisconsin middle linebacker Jeff Mack knocked the ball free. The fumble set up Wisconsin's final score of the half.

"It was a good hit on his part," Lowry said. "He put his head on the ball and most of the times when you do that the ball is going to come loose, especially in a wet game. I just lacked ball security."

Michael Robinson, being the competitor he is, wanted to return punts after watching Lowry's fumble.

"But with me being the quarterback I couldn't be the backup [return man]," Robinson said. "Those are some things you can't control offensively, but we have to work on it this week."

If Penn State can't solve the problems, then next week the Lions could face a similar situation against the Purdue Boilermakers.