UNIVERSITY PARK — For the vast majority of the last four seasons, Penn State’s defense has been the bully. Saturday, against No. 1 Ohio State, it was bullied.
  The No. 24 Nittany Lions’ young and continuously improving defensive line was stonewalled on passing plays and shoved roughly backward on rushing plays.
  Their world-class linebackers found themselves making tackles seven and eight yards down the field.
  Their secondary, tenderized a week ago by James Hardy and Indiana, could do little but watch as Ohio State quarterback Todd Boeckman, with all night to throw the football, perfectly spotted his passes.
  The Buckeyes’ 37-17 win before 110,134 in Beaver Stadium was simple, methodical and thorough — the formula they’ve used to win 27 straight regular-season games but one they had often struggled to complete in Beaver Stadium, where they had won just two of their last seven games. There were no such struggles Saturday.
  Ohio State racked up 453 total yards — 284 in the first half — turned three of its four red-zone opportunities into touchdowns and, thanks to a staggering 75 percent third-down conversion rate, did not punt once.
  “We couldn’t stop ‘em,” Penn State coach Joe Paterno said. “That’s a good football team and they played really well.”
  Boeckman, a first-year starter but 23-year-old junior, completed 19 of 26 passes for 253 yards and one interception and threw a touchdown pass in each of the first three quarters. Tailback Chris “Beanie” Wells, showing a terrific balance of power and speed, ran for 133 yards on 25 carries. Boeckman was taken down just once by the team that led the nation in sacks going into Saturday, and his interception to Penn State linebacker Dan Connor was the Buckeyes’ lone turnover against a team that had forced more than two per game.
  “They found some holes in our defense,” said Penn State cornerback Justin King. “They were extremely balanced, they were good, they picked up the rush, the running back wasn’t getting touched until about six yards down the field.”
  Penn State’s offense consistently moved the football against the nation’s top defense, averaging a solid 5.4 yards per play, but struggled to finish drives. And, because its defense couldn’t keep the Buckeye offense off the field, had just nine possessions and held the ball for just 22 minutes and eight seconds.
  Quarterback Anthony Morelli was 12-of-21 for 111 yards and without an interception until the fourth quarter, when Malcolm Jenkins grabbed a pass over the head of Rodney Kinlaw and returned it 24 yards for a touchdown, a year after returning a Morelli interception for a score in Ohio State’s 28-6 victory in Columbus.
  Try as they might, using blitzes, stunts and even rare four-linemen, four-linebacker formations, the Nittany Lions couldn’t force Boeckman into many mistakes.
  “We didn’t get any pressure on him,” Paterno said, “And when we did get after him, he did a good job of dumping it off.”
  After Rodney Kinlaw’s 2-yard touchdown run capped a 9-play, 78-yard drive by the Nittany Lions midway through the first