STATE UNIVERSITY | It's a new season, but a familiar result for Penn State, which has lost its Eighth straight game against Ohio State 8 p.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. Here's what we learned from the Nittany Lions' recent loss to the Buckeyes.

The Nittany Lions' offense is slacking again

Penn State was certainly creative again on offense, incorporating a plethora of fun formations, moves and tricks throughout the day. But all of that bells and whistles didn't result in a single offensive touchdown. The Nittany Lions have scored one offensive touchdown against Ohio State each of the last two seasons. Ohio State beat Penn State 20-12 last season, only holding the Nittany Lions away with a late touchdown in the fourth quarter.

The Nittany Lions (7-1) didn't run the ball well, as Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen combined for just 58 yards on 22 carries. Tight end Tyler Warren was the team's leading rusher with 47 yards. Drew Allar ran for 31 yards, most of them on the scramble. Allar played early and often, especially because his receivers struggled to consistently gain the lead.

“I’m really just upset,” Singleton said. “If we ended up scoring (on those two drives) we would be somewhere else. We would have won. It was a close game. I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but we have to finish.”

It's a familiar problem for Penn State: The receiving corps wasn't productive enough on Saturday, and the pre-snap eye candy didn't seem to help open them up. The passing game ultimately ended with Singleton's six catches. Warren got going in the second half with four catches and a 33-yard dash from the Wildcat formation. But the wide receivers only accounted for three catches.

“Are they good at defense? Yes. We have to find ways to produce points and yards, there's no doubt about that, so we didn't do it,” Penn State coach Franklin said.

Penn State got a 1st-and-goal from Ohio State's 3-yard line in the final six minutes and had a chance to score a game-winning touchdown. From there, they passed Allen up the middle on three consecutive plays and reached the 1-yard line. On 4th-and-goal, Penn State came into play and Allar had no way to throw it. Warren didn't get the ball at all in this sequence.

“We had a man zone option,” Warren said of the fourth-down play. “They zoned it out, so we went to the zone side. I'll do my job no matter what the game is called. There are many people who can play in such situations. It shouldn’t just be me getting the ball.”

It was a golden chance for the Nittany Lions to tie the game, but they couldn't do it. Ohio State would take advantage of the rest of the season and ensure that Penn State would never see the football again.

“It's heartbreaking. “Nobody wants to go out there and not score from the plus-five,” guard Sal Wormley said.

Penn State's defense does enough to win

Penn State's defense was tested by Ohio State's playmakers. That led to some big plays for the Buckeyes' wideouts, including touchdown catches for Emeka Egbuka and Brandon Inniss.

Running backs Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson ran hard all day and totaled 149 yards rushing, including 45 on the final drive of the game. Ohio State ran the ball on 11 consecutive plays to end the game.

“I was confident our defense was going to go in there and make a stop,” defensive tackle Dvon J-Thomas said, “and that didn’t happen.”

At the same time, the Nittany Lions managed to limit Ohio State to just 20 points. In the second quarter, safety Zakee Wheatley knocked the ball away from Ohio State quarterback Will Howard near the goal line, with the ball rolling out for a touchback. Penn State couldn't immediately capitalize on offense, but the turnover prevented Ohio State from taking a 21-10 lead.

Not to mention, cornerback Zion Tracy's pick 6 in the first quarter was a great play in a game where there weren't many points. It was Penn State's only touchdown of the day and the reason it remained just one point the entire game.

The defense held Ohio State to six points in the second half. The Nittany Lions certainly benefited from some misses from Howard, but ultimately Penn State's defense played well enough to win the game.

Tyler Warren and Abdul Carter make great appearances

Arguably Penn State's biggest stars on both sides of the ball, Warren on offense and Abdul Carter on defense, did their best to keep the team on its toes. In the first half, Warren had just two rush attempts and a single pass target. In the second half, Warren scored all four of his goals, including a 31-yard circus catch over the head of a defender. His 33-yard run in the fourth quarter put Penn State on the goal line before ultimately failing.

Carter recorded two third-down sacks to end Ohio State drives and finished the game with four total tackles. There were some mistakes, like an offside jumper on 3rd-and-2 in the second quarter to give Ohio State a free first down. On a fourth down during the next series, Carter had a chance to sack Howard, but he came up empty, allowing Howard to find a receiver for the first down.

Without those individual efforts, Penn State may not have had as many chances in this game.

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Sam Woloson has covered Penn State athletics for three years and is currently managing editor of The Daily Collegian. His work has also appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Huntingdon Daily News and Rivals. Follow him on X @sam_woloson