The Nittany Lions geared up on October 6, at Beaver Stadium, only to fall hard to the Michigan Wolverines 20 – 0.

Even though the Lions have shown improvement, they still can’t seem to find a win. After the recent loss to the Wolverines, Penn State now stands at 0 – 4, the worst star ever for the Nittany Lions under Joe Paterno. As if things weren’t bad enough, Penn State sophomore Sean McHugh broke his leg in the game and will be out for the remainder of the 2001 season. So far for the Nittany Lions, the future looks dim.

In spite of failed opportunities to put points on the board, Penn State’s offense improved, but not enough to gain a victory. Starting quarterback Zack Mills threw for 21 completions out of 38 attempts, while stacking up 244 yards passing. Still, in the October 9 press conference Paterno said, “I don’t think we did a particularly good job offensively.”

However, the defense is in just as much hot water as the offense. Whether it is lack of experience or just mental mistakes, defense isn’t getting the job done either. On a good note, the Lions defense only gave up 20 points against Michigan, and only 18 points to Wisconsin several weeks ago. Each game, the Lions seem to be more in sync, but still have a lot of work to do for the rest of the 2001 season. The bottom line is no matter how good your defense is, you simply can’t win if your offense doesn’t put points on the board.

So the major question at hand is, will Northwestern make Penn State 0 – 5 or give the Lions their first victory of the season? Hopefully the Nittany Lions will be focused on a victory for their next matchup, as Paterno once again attempts to tie Bear Bryant’s record for the most wins in college football history. Penn State will meet Northwestern on Saturday October 20, on ABC at 3:30 p.m.