STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The pass was there and so was Michael Robinson, the Penn State receiver with the surest hands and the burning desire to make up for a mistake that had put the Nittany Lions into an early hole.
  If that scenario sounds hopeful for the angry, frustrated folks who trek to the middle of nowhere and file into Beaver Stadium believing things just can't get any worse for coach Joe Paterno and his team, well, you haven't been following Penn State football these days. What came next - now that's Penn State football.
  In full stride and with a step on his defender at the Northwestern 2-yard line, Robinson dropped the perfectly thrown pass from Zack Mills with less than four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter yesterday, and Paterno and the Nittany Lions were once again left to grope for explanations for yet another loss.
  This time, Penn State went down, 14-7, in a Big Ten Conference game as Northwestern took advantage of a poorly thrown pass by Robinson to get an early touchdown, then used its massive offensive line and the tough running of Noah Herron to protect its first-ever win at Beaver Stadium.
  "Oh, man, I've got to make that catch," Robinson said after Penn State (2-7, 0-6 Big Ten) lost a conference game for the 13th time in the last 14 tries and sank below Illinois into last place. "As soon as I came off my break, the ball was right there and it kind of shocked me. I got my hands up a little late. But at this level I've got to make that play, and I didn't. It was a great pass."
  Although the attendance was announced as 100,353 in the 108,000-seat stadium, there appeared to be at least 15,000 empty seats. There's no logical reason to expect to fill a stadium for a team that has so many problems on offense.
  When Mills tossed a 2-yard pass to tight end Isaac Smolko to tie the game, 7-7, just before the halftime break, it was Penn State's fourth TD in the last six games. Mills, who once again was serenaded with boos, pointed to the sky and briefly pumped his fist.
  "It was about time, you know," said a dejected Mills, who completed 21 of 34 passes for 183 yards, but will likely step aside next week against Indiana so that freshman Anthony Morelli can get some work.
  "Everybody's always wanting something new," added Mills, a fifth-year senior who returned after sitting out last week's game against Iowa with a concussion. "They'll get it in two more games."
  Afterward, Paterno said he put aside his plan to give Morelli some playing time because he thought the team had a better chance of winning with Mills.
  "I told him [Morelli] a couple of times to get ready," Paterno said. "I was very close. If we had gotten behind by more than a touchdown, I probably would have stuck him in, but I didn't want to sit Zack on the bench when I thought we still had a shot at it."
  On its first play from scrimmage, Penn State tried some razzle-dazzle. Good idea. Bad execution. Mills handed the ball to running back Tony Hunt, who then gave it to Robinson. Mark Rubin was open deep, but Robinson, pressured from behind, threw a pass to Hunt that was intercepted by strong safety Dominique Price at the Northwestern 33-yard line.