ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Joe Paterno sat before the microphones and tape recorders and fought to keep the frown from his face. He had wondered during this past week, and possibly for the whole season, what sort of mettle his Penn State team possessed, and he had figured Saturday’s visit to Michigan Stadium would provide some answers. It did, but not the ones he had been hoping for.
  As Michigan continued its now 11-year hold over his Nittany Lions with a 14-9 win before 111,310, Paterno learned that his defense can play the same type of game against an offense loaded with All-Americans as it did against three patsies. He also learned that his own offense is a lot closer to Florida International’s and Buffalo’s than it is to Michigan’s.
  “I’ll know more when I see how they come out to practice Monday,” Paterno said. Maybe, but Saturday’s performance said a lot on its own.
  Tenth-ranked Penn State (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten) did not score a touchdown in four trips inside Michigan’s 20-yard line and compiled 270 total yards against a Wolverine defense that had allowed 24.3 points and 363.3 yards per game in its first three contests.
  A pair of Nittany Lion turnovers, their eighth and ninth of the young season, set up Michigan’s first touchdown and erased a great scoring chance in the third quarter with Penn State trailing 7-3. “We stopped ourselves,” Paterno said.
  The Wolverines (2-2, 1-0), who won their second straight game and their ninth in a row against the Nittany Lions, got 153 hard-earned yards on 44 carries from senior tailback Mike Hart, an impressive performance from freshman quarterback Ryan Mallett (16-of-29, 170 yards, one interception) and enough plays from their defense when it mattered.
  But, just as in each of their last two trips here, this one was there for the taking for Penn State, and a lack of execution from the offense did not allow it.
  Most of the time, Penn State’s offensive line protected quarterback Anthony Morelli. But, against a suspect secondary, the senior completed just 15 of his 31 passes for 169 yards, and his fumble on Penn State’s second possession of the game (the Nittany Lions had gone four yards backward in their first three plays) gave the Wolverines the ball at Penn State’s 8-yard line. Two plays later, Mallett followed a couple of great blocks on a busted play and trotted into the end zone for the only touchdown of the half.
  Penn State tailbacks Rodney Kinlaw (12 carries, 69 yards) and Austin Scott (nine carries, 35 yards) and the line’s run-blocking also produced mixed results. Kinlaw was bottled up early but had a 38-yard scamper in the fourth quarter that set up a Kevin Kelly field goal. Scott had a 19-yard run but lost a fumble for the third time this season at Michigan’s 9-yard line, after Penn State had driven 72 yards in eight plays late in the third quarter, and was not seen again.
  Every crucial offensive mistake besides Morelli’s fumble, it seemed, was made on the doorstep of the end zone, the same trouble that haunted Penn State in four losses last season.