STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- A white towel draped over his shoulder, the new Penn State coach in the white polo shirt donned headphones to communicate with his assistants in the press box as he paced the sideline.

These are now Bill O'Brien's Nittany Lions -- and they are off to a disappointing start.

In front of 97,000 vocal fans eager to just watch football again, Penn State let an 11-point halftime lead slip away and Ohio quarterback Tyler Tettleton accounted for three second-half touchdowns to hand O'Brien a 24-14 loss in his coaching debut.

"I thought it was a great atmosphere in the stands," O'Brien said before stoically taking responsibility for the loss. "Again, it starts with me and coaching better and making sure we play better next time."

For many fans, just watching a game at Beaver Stadium represented a small victory following a trying offseason that included the death of former coach Joe Paterno, and crippling NCAA sanctions placed on the program for the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal.

"We are ... Penn State," the anxious crowd roared in the fourth quarter, even in the final minutes with defeat assured. It was the first loss to open a season for Penn State since falling 33-7 to Miami in 2001.

"It got everyone back together," fan Lisa Weller, 48, of Charlotte, N.C., referring to the team and the massive Penn State fan base, said about Saturday's game. "Everyone is going to move forward.'

Matt McGloin threw for 260 yards and two touchdowns guiding Penn State's new-look offense.

There were some other changes, too: players' names on the backs of the uniforms, and blue ribbons on the back of the helmets to show support for victims of child sexual abuse.

Long a model for stability, the scandal lurched the program into a rebuilding project no one expected a year ago.

Now Penn State is playing without someone named Paterno on the sideline for the first time since 1949. The late Hall of Famer arrived in Happy Valley as an assistant in 1950 and took over as head coach in 1966.

The man known in these parts as "JoePa" stayed on the job for 46 seasons before his firing last November days after Sandusky, his former defensive coordinator, was arrested.

Paterno's widow, Sue Paterno, watched the game from a stadium suite. Paterno died in January, and as part of his employment agreement the family got use of the suite for 25 years.

O'Brien took over in January after serving as offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots. From his first day on the job, promised to stay focused on the present and the future of Penn State football.

O'Brien spent much of the afternoon pacing the same sideline that Paterno once walked with his trademark khakis and jet-black sneakers.