Boos scattered throughout Beaver Stadium.

Not boos that rang down in powerful unison, but boos serving as merely background noise, like string instruments in an orchestral assembly hall. Just loud enough that they could no longer be ignored, yet subtle enough to allow plenty of other sounds to be heard.

And, indeed, there was a whole forlorn symphony of displeasure during the waning moments of Penn State's loss to Iowa.

The Nittany Lions lost by the most ludicrous score of six points to four on a bleak Saturday afternoon, and many fans raged with unhappiness over it.

While the optimists in the student section chanted "defense" in praise of the one unit that held Penn State together, others simply berated.

They targeted the coaching staff, they targeted kicker Robbie Gould for missing two field goals, they targeted Michael Robinson for his two interceptions and fumble and one man stood directly behind the team bench yelling, "Paterno, you need to put in [freshman blue-chip quarterback] Anthony Morelli."

As the players left the field, one student fan leaned over the player's tunnel and praised or viciously chastised each player who left the stadium as he saw fit.

It was an ugly scene.

But no less ugly than the offensive futility by the Lions that had triggered this reaction.

And no less ugly than an offensive gameplan that looked ill-equipped to produce against the Iowa defense.

The bye week the Lions had to prepare for Iowa did not help at all, apparently.

"When you talk about being prepared, I think, we were prepared with what we wanted to do," fullback Paul Jefferson said. "Whether or not some of the guys were mentally ready to handle some of their assignments, ready not to jump offsides, ready to be in the game when they're supposed to be in the game ... you can be perfect with all of those things during the week, then, all of the sudden, in the game it's different."

Because practices occur behind closed doors, fans will have to take the team's word for it.

But the fact remains -- the offensive product placed on the field on Saturdays doesn't produce while often looking painfully predictable.

The stodginess on offense started promptly and auspiciously when utility player Michael Robinson took the first snap of the game behind center and ran an all-to-familiarly-ineffective quarterback draw.

An ill-advised Mills pass and a run by Tony Hunt for no gain later, and Penn State lined up to boot the first of its eight punts on the afternoon.

Similar plays and play calling as the game grinded forward drew disdain from a petulant and fed up Beaver Stadium crowd of reportedly 108,062.

The offensively woeful offenders really started to feel the crowd's wrath when a play in the second quarter left the Lions a yard short of what would've been their third of only six first downs of the game. It's not as if anyone suggested this offense was a juggernaut, but lows like this, even for this team, sent shockwaves through the Blue and White faithful.

However, there was one group in the stadium that wasn't surprised by much of anything the Lions did on offense.

"I wasn't surprised," Iowa's All-Big Ten linebacker Abdul Hodge said. "They have a lot of athletes and players over there, but at the same time, we prepared. We prepared our defense."