UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- After starting last season 9-0 and dreaming of its first national championship since 1986, Penn State has been an average football team.

The Nittany Lions are 5-3 in their past eight games, including 2-2 in the Big Ten Conference.

Two of the three losses have come against underdog Iowa -- the latest a 21-10 setback in the Big Ten opener Saturday night at Beaver Stadium -- and the other was to highly ranked Southern California in the Rose Bowl.

Only one of Penn State's five victories in the eight-game stretch has come against a ranked team with a winning record -- No. 17 Michigan State in November.

The other four wins have come at the expense of bottom-feeders Indiana, Akron, Syracuse and Temple.

Penn State was ranked No. 3 in The Associated Press poll when it lost in Iowa City, 24-23, last season. And the Lions were sitting at No. 5 before the loss Saturday to the Hawkeyes, who scored the final 21 points.

Yesterday, Penn State (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten) paid the price for its four turnovers (three interceptions and a fumble), safety, blocked punt and missed field goal.

Coach Joe Paterno's team plummeted 10 spots in the AP poll to No. 15, and it dropped nine spots in the USA Today coaches' poll, going from No. 4 to No. 13.

The Lions won't have long to lick their wounds. They will be on the road for the first time Saturday, visiting Illinois (1-2, 0-1).

"I think we will learn from it," Paterno said Saturday night after losing to Iowa for the seventh time in the past eight meetings. "Sometimes, you can talk about different things and how games are won and lost, and I think they haven't been through it.

"It's still a fairly young football team as far as playing time is concerned, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. The wideouts and offensive line, two or three of those kids haven't played a lot.

"I think it's a question of learning and not feeling that all is lost. I think we can learn from it and get better."

Quarterback Daryll Clark has thrown six interceptions and three touchdown passes in the two losses to Iowa, which has won eight games in a row -- and the one to USC.

He hit wide receiver Chaz Powell with a 79-yard touchdown strike less than two minutes into the game Saturday, and Penn State's offense had 147 yards and 10 points after one quarter. But the Lions produced no points and only 160 yards over the final three quarters against the Hawkeyes.

The struggling running game managed 109 yards on 33 carries, a 3.3 average. Tailback Evan Royster's fourth-quarter fumble at the Hawkeyes' 18 with 8:15 left sealed the win for previously unranked Iowa, which was No. 13 in the AP poll yesterday, but No. 17 in the coaches' poll.

"We just weren't clicking," left tackle Dennis Landolt said. "We just didn't play a clean enough game. We were not executing."

That was especially true of Clark. He finished with a career-high three interceptions, including two in the final quarter. His previous high was two against the Trojans in the Rose Bowl.

"Every time we had an opportunity to put some points on the board, whether it be three points or a touchdown, something seemed to happen," Clark said. "When we would get something going, an interception or a mistake would happen. It just knocked all of our rhythm out of our offensive drives.

"They took advantage of our mistakes every time. Iowa is a good football team. They were solid on defense. The opportunities we had, we didn't take advantage of."

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