CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- His face marked by concern, Zack Mills' eyes drooped as he sat in the post-game interview room late Saturday night.

He looked tired at that moment. Tired from the beating his team had just taken in a 21-7 loss to Boston College, and tired of seeing his Nittany Lions falter repeatedly in pivotal road games.

But mostly, the senior quarterback looked tired of answering the same old questions about how -- once again -- his team could not make the plays it needed to win a football game.

Mistakes -- not plays -- were the only thing Penn State (1-1) seemed capable of making. When the Lions had to rise to the occasion, turnovers and penalties were committed instead, and as a result, they left Alumni Stadium with their sixth straight loss on the road. Last season's bitter 27-14 loss to the Eagles (2-0) went completely unavenged.

And Mills, in particular, had to sit in that post-game interview room and explain why this had happened.

Responsibility tends to burden the quarterback in defeat as much as credit praises him in victory. Especially when that quarterback throws a career-high four interceptions, as Mills did.

"I was embarrassed after last year's game, and in some ways, I am now," he said.

The demise, of course, did not begin with Mills, though he might have looked like the goat in this game.

It began with a Boston College touchdown drive that never should have happened.

Looking energetic and aggressive, the Penn State defense appeared to have shut BC down on its first procession -- twice.

But Penn State, hoping to make an impact play early with a blocked punt, roughed the kicker on consecutive fourth downs, giving the Eagles 29 free penalty yards and a first down at the Penn State 42-yard line.

Seven plays later, with the ball on the Penn State 6-yard line, BC quarterback Paul Peterson tossed a high pass to the corner of the end zone that tight end David Kashetta caught over two Penn State defenders for BC's first score.

Marching deep into Eagles' territory, Penn State responded with a sustained drive of its own in the beginning of the second quarter. But on first-and-15 from the BC 21, Eagles' cornerback Ray Henderson intercepted a Mills pass that was tipped at the line of scrimmage.

An even more costly Penn State turnover came minutes later on the Lions next drive after a BC punt. On first-and-10 at the 22-yard line of Penn State, Lions fullback Paul Jefferson fumbled when he was leveled by Eagles' linebacker Jolonn Dubar after catching a short pass.

BC then struck quickly with the kind of momentum-turning play Penn State could never muster that night. With the Eagles' running game already established, Peterson burned the Penn State secondary with a 26-yard touchdown pass to wide out Grant Adams on play action. The play demonstrated fully the weak point of the Lions' defensive effort.

"I thought we were ready to play well," Penn State football coach Joe Paterno said, "but we weren't."

That score put BC up 14-0 at halftime, and put the Lions in a position where they had to throw the ball to get back in the game. It was then that Mills' day withered into one of his worst statistical performances of his career.

Unthreatened by Penn State's inconsistent ground game, BC's formidable pass rush became more aggressive chasing after the quarterback, and the Eagles' secondary sat comfortably in a deep zone.

"Early in the game you could take the [shorter] dump-down passes," Mills said. "When you get late in the game like that it's tough when they're sitting back there waiting for it, and you need some touchdowns. You start to try to start to force some things. You try to make some plays down the field."

But the plays Mills tried to make -- those risky throws he was famous for making into sensational plays early in his career -- ultimately looked like ill-advised passes that hurt his team.

With about 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, he threw into double coverage and was picked off by T.J. Stancil.

The other two interceptions he threw later in the quarter came off of passes that appeared just as forced, as the senior quarterback looked for the smallest openings, hoping to complete a deep pass. But the General Mills comeback magic was not there as it has been in the past.

"It's the most picks I've thrown in a game, which is terrible," he said.

A difficult -- and in some ways, career-worst -- game weighed on Mills as he rose slowly from his seat to leave when all the interviews had finished.

He left the room silent and expressionless, a quarterback who wished he could have made more big plays.

But they just weren't there.