Sports

Emotion not enough as Penn State lose in first game since scandal

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — By the third quarter yesterday, after Ohio took a 17-14 lead over Penn State, Beaver Stadium got so quiet you could hear an NCAA hammer fall.

There were grand predictions about what would take place in the first football game since Joe Paterno died, Jerry Sandusky was convicted of child sex abuse and the NCAA gave Penn State a death-by-slow-torture penalty.

The prevailing belief was this 107,282-seat monument to college football stadiums would be packed cheek to cheek and the screaming, cheering and exhorting would reverberate into the night.

But if the players and fans in this Central Pennsylvania college town have learned one thing it is surely this: Life is unpredictable — sometimes cruelly and confusingly unpredictable.

In that light, the Nittany Lions’ 24-14 loss, in which they blew a 14-3 lead, should not have shocked anyone.

Really, nothing should shock anyone after one man’s atrocious actions severely damaged a proud football program, leading to Penn State’s first loss in an opener to a non-BCS school since 1967 at Navy.

“We came out of the tunnel with so much emotion,’’ said linebacker Mike Hull. “But as the game wore on …’’

Yes, Penn State came out like gangbusters, throwing the ball all over the field in new coach Bill O’Brien’s New England Patriots-style offense. Quarterback Matt McGloin had attempted 22 passes by halftime, two more than the Nittany Lions attempted in last season’s entire opener, and had thrown two touchdown passes.

The crowd — 97,186, not a sellout — was loud, but not Richter-scale moving.

And then the bottom dropped out.

All of the anger. All of the resentment. All of the confusion. All of the media scrutiny. All of the verbal barbs that had been thrown at this program, making it feel like the clown in the dunking booth, took its toll.

The Bobcats scored twice in the third quarter. They led. The Nittany Lions didn’t respond. The crowd didn’t respond until the fourth quarter, after linebacker Mike Mauti had gathered the team and implored: “It’s make it or break it.’’

Penn State didn’t break. It just stopped like an elevator between floors.

The Nittany Lions couldn’t stop Ohio when the Bobcats had a third-and-1 at their 16, and they couldn’t stop quarterback Tyler Tettleton from completing a 3-yard touchdown pass with 2:55 left to salt the game away.

“It’s been an emotional year,’’ Penn State offensive lineman John Urschel said.

The result could be devastating. Penn State never will be this healthy or this emotional again this season. The Nittany Lions may not have the same depth in the next four years as the NCAA penalties — 10 lost scholarships per year — kick in.

Penn State needed this win more to avoid an emotional hemorrhage than to start the healing of the child sex abuse scandal.

“We lost to a better team today,’’ O’Brien said.

Yes, Ohio (1-0) of the MAC, was the better team. The Bobcats, without 10 months of emotional trauma, grew stronger as the game went on.

The Penn State players, who endured 10 months of emotional earthquakes — Paterno was fired in November and died in January; Sandusky, his former longtime assistant, was convicted in late June; the NCAA dropped the hammer in July — faded.

When asked if he had any trepidation as to how the season would progress, O’Brien said, “No.” He said that a lot. No, he didn’t think the loss of the players that transferred out impacted his team.

He kept putting the loss on himself, saying he needed to coach better. It was noble, but the reality is Penn State really does need to heal, which makes the program’s new motto, “One Team,” fitting.

lenn.robbins@nypost.com