COLUMBUS, Ohio -- It's an all too familiar scene for Penn State in recent years. Joe Paterno sits down after a game, runs his hand through his hair and gives a tired-sounding chuckle when asked to pinpoint the latest problems of his football team.

Such was the case again Saturday following the Nittany Lions' fifth straight loss, this one coming 21-10 to Ohio State.

"I don't know what to tell you," Paterno said. "You guys think I'm trying to be a smart aleck and I just don't know. We oughta be able to go downfield and go back down again and again, and we just don't."

Saturday was particularly frustrating for Paterno, who saw his running game emerge from its four-game hibernation against Big Ten squads, only to watch it and the offense as a whole break down in Buckeyes' territory.

With Zack Mills sitting on the sideline as the emergency quarterback because of a concussion suffered last week against Iowa, Michael Robinson took the reins of the offense and brought a whole new scheme with him.

Despite the changes of personnel that coincided with a somewhat revitalized ground game, the Lions were unable to get much of anything done through the air, causing problems in key situations on the Buckeyes half of the field.

Robinson, who Paterno said was "a little rusty" in the game, went just 7-of-21 passing for 69 yards and two interceptions. The first pick came on the game's first possession in which the Lions drove to the Ohio State 31. The second was snared by safety Tyler Everett and returned 24 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 Buckeyes lead.

"The timing's not there," Robinson said. "It's a little bit of everything."

Later, the lack of a passing game forced the Lions to run a draw with Robinson on third-and-goal from the 8-yard line that gained 4 yards and resulted in just a field goal to cap the drive.

Paterno has bemoaned the Lions' lack of consistency for weeks now as the biggest problem facing the team. Things took a step in the right direction Saturday on the ground, but the Lions still appear to be far from nailing things down.

"I don't think we have a defined thing that's working right now with the offense, so we just kind of go with whatever's working," Hunt said.