Who's Penn State's QB?

For three games, quarterback Matt McGloin had his Penn State teammates and coaches, not to mention the fans, believing he could take the Nittany Lions on a giddy late-season run that would make up for some disappointments over the first six weeks.

But now that the bubble has burst under the avalanche of Ohio State's total domination in the second half of a 38-14 victory Saturday in Columbus, the question is whether McGloin will even continue as the starter.

After directing the Lions (6-4, 3-3 Big Ten) to a 14-3 halftime lead on the strength of two touchdown passes, McGloin looked confused in the second half by the adjustments made by the nationally ranked defense of the No. 8 Buckeyes.

The redshirt sophomore completed just 2 of 12 passes in the second half, misfiring on his final seven attempts. Two of those seven incompletions were interceptions returned by Buckeyes defensive backs Devon Torrence and Travis Howard for touchdowns.

Coach Joe Paterno was asked afterward if the starting job was going to be up for grabs at this week's practices as the Lions prepare for Saturday's game in Landover, Md., against Indiana. But Paterno's reply revealed nothing.

"I don't know," he said. "I haven't even thought about it."

Freshman Rob Bolden, who has started eight of Penn State's 10 games this season, took over for McGloin with 3 minutes, 54 seconds to play and the Buckeyes up by 24, and threw three incompletions.

It was a rude return to earth for McGloin, the former walk-on who had led Penn State on a three-game winning streak. The first pick-six he threw, to Torrence, broke a string of 91 passes without an interception dating back to his second attempt against Minnesota.

McGloin said he didn't think he was humbled by the way things deteriorated but credited Ohio State with making the proper adjustments. He called the second half a learning experience.

"What we've got to learn from this is, obviously the game is never over until it's over," he said. "Even when you're up, you've got to make adjustments at halftime. That's what they did, and obviously it worked out for them."

Penn State gained just 60 yards in the second half, failed to convert all six of its third-down conversions, and held the football for 81/2 minutes less. The Lions entered the fourth quarter trailing by just 17-14, but went three plays and a punt on all four possessions in the period.

Meanwhile, the Buckeyes rolled to 306 total yards in the second half. Dan "Boom" Herron rushed for 121 of his 190 yards in the half and scored a touchdown. Terrelle Pryor, who was just 8 of 13 for 129 yards, connected on a 58-yard TD pass to Dane Sanzenbacher, who picked a deflected deep pass out of the air and trotted in.

That's just the way it went for the Nittany Lions. It remains to be seen how much their confidence, which was sky-high entering Ohio Stadium, was dented by their second-half performance.

Quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno said he didn't think McGloin would be affected.

"There's one of two things you can do: Either keep fighting and get better or fold your tent," the head coach's son said. "He's not going to fold his tent. We've got two more games to play, two more games to go out and show some people what we're made of.

"We came back from Illinois [a 33-13 defeat]. We didn't play well and we played well the next three weeks. So I think we have that as precedent and we're going to try to make sure that we don't let this thing slip away from us."