STATE COLLEGE | It’s a new season but a familiar result for Penn State, which lost its eighth straight game against Ohio State 8 p.m.-1 p.m. Saturday. Here’s what we learned from the Nittany Lions’ latest loss to the Buckeyes.

Nittany Lions offense fails again

Penn State certainly showed creativity on offense, incorporating a plethora of fun formations, moves and tricks throughout the day. But all those bells and whistles didn’t translate into a single offensive touchdown. The Nittany Lions have scored an offensive touchdown against Ohio State in the last two seasons. Ohio State beat Penn State 20-12 last season, limiting the Nittany Lions to a late fourth-quarter touchdown.

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 which came from scrimmage. Allar ran it early and often, mostly because his receivers struggled to get open consistently.

“I’m just upset, for real,” Singleton said. “If we end up scoring (on those two drives), we would be in a different place. 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 at Penn State: The receiving corps wasn’t productive enough Saturday, and the pre-snap eye candy didn’t seem to help open them up. The passing game ultimately resulted in Singleton’s six catches. Warren started the second half with four catches and a 33-yard run out of the Wildcat formation. But the wide receivers had only three catches.

“Are they good on defense? Yes. We have to find ways to make points and yards, there’s no doubt about that, so we haven’t been able to do that,” Penn State coach Franklin said.

Penn State scored first from the Ohio State 3-yard line in the final six minutes with an opportunity to score a tying touchdown. From there, they handed it to Allen over the middle on three straight plays to get to the 1-yard line. On 4th and goal, Penn State went for a play action and Allar had nowhere to throw it. Warren didn’t get the ball at all during this sequence.

“We had a man zone option,” Warren said of the fourth-down play. “They marked it off, so we went to the side of the area. I will do my job, whatever the title of the piece. There are a lot of guys who can play in those situations. It’s not just me who should get the ball.

It was a golden opportunity for the Nittany Lions to tie the game, but they couldn’t do it. Ohio State would waste the rest of the time, ensuring that Penn State would never see football again.

“It’s heartbreaking. Nobody wants to go out there and not score at plus-five,” goaltender Sal Wormley said.

Penn State’s defense does enough to win

Penn State’s defense was tested by Ohio State’s playmakers. This led to some big plays for the Buckeyes wideouts, including touchdowns to Emeka Egbuka and Brandon Inniss.

Running backs Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson ran hard all day, totaling 149 rushing yards, 45 on the final drive of the game. Ohio State ran the ball on 11 straight plays to close out the game.

“I had confidence that our defense would go out there and make a stop,” defensive tackle Dvon J-Thomas said, “and that’s not what happened.”

At the same time, the Nittany Lions managed to limit Ohio State to just 20 points. In the second quarter, safety Zakee Wheatley moved the ball away from Ohio State quarterback Will Howard near the goal line, with the ball rolling for a touchback. Penn State didn’t immediately capitalize offensively, 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 turned out to be a huge play in a game without a ton of scoring. It was Penn State’s only touchdown of the day and was the reason the game remained one score throughout.

The defense held Ohio State to six points in the second half. The Nittany Lions certainly benefited from a few missed throws from Howard, but ultimately the Penn State defense played well enough to win the game.

Tyler Warren and Abdul Carter make big plays

Arguably Penn State’s biggest stars on either side of the ball, Warren on offense and Abdul Carter on defense, did their best to put the team on their backs. In the first half, Warren had just two rushing attempts and just one pass target. In the second half, Warren was able to hit all four of his targets, including a 31-yard circus catch over a defender’s head. His 33-yard run in the fourth quarter put Penn State on the goal line before ultimately failing.

Carter picked up two third down sacks to end Ohio State’s drives and finished with four total tackles. There were a few mistakes, like jumping offsides on 3rd and 2 in the second quarter to give Ohio State a free first down. On a fourth down on the next series, Carter had a chance to sack Howard, but he came up empty and allowed Howard to find a receiver for the first down.

Yet without these individual efforts, Penn State may not have had as much luck in this game.

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