Luke McCaffrey's first drive as Nebraska's starting quarterback couldn't have gone much better.

The shifty redshirt freshman completed four of his five passes for 45 yards and ran three times for 24 yards, punctuating a silky smooth possession with a 1-yard touchdown run.

Remarkable, right? Well, maybe not, considering just about everyone is doing that against Penn State's defense these days.

McCaffrey's impressive opening was the third time in four games that the Nittany Lions had conceded a touchdown on their opening drive, part of a trend of first half woes that the Nittany Lions acknowledge but can't explain — and, more importantly, can't seem to fix.

"Starting slow has been our M.O," defensive end Jayson Oweh said after Penn State's 30-23 loss. "We got to take it back to the beginning in practice, being more detailed on specifics, intensity. That's all I can say. I can't give you an exact reason why we keep starting slow, but when we pick it up, we pick it up."

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Perhaps Penn State's first half struggles defensively on Saturday would be easier to accept if the Lions hadn't been so good in the second half.

In the first 30 minutes, the Cornhuskers scored 27 of their 30 points, compiled 203 of their 298 total yards and earned 11 of their 17 first downs. In the second half, the Nittany Lion defense scarcely let them take an inch.

For the season, Penn State has allowed 93 first half points and 46 in the second half — and that includes the 8 points scored by Indiana in overtime in Week 1.

"Looking back at us in general, opening drives is an area where we need to get better," James Franklin said. "That's something that me and coach [Brent] Pry talked about in the offseason...We've typically done that since we got here, but we've been able to get everybody adjusted, calm down and get an idea of what they're trying to do, and go from there. But obviously this year, it's made things even more challenging."

Adding fuel to the fire Saturday was a turnover happy Penn State offense.

After that first drive by McCaffrey and company, the Nittany Lions seemed poised to respond, moving the ball to the Nebraska 41-yard line. Then Sean Clifford underthrew a wide open Jahan Dotson on an out-route, and Nebraska's Cam Taylor-Britt intercepted the pass and set the Huskers up deep in Penn State territory with a 55-yard return.

That led to a field goal, and Nebraska's momentum snowballed into a 27-6 halftime lead that proved too much for Penn State to overcome.

This isn't a new problem for Franklin and his staff. When they won the Big Ten title in 2016, fans labeled them a second half team — doing so with affection for their late-game offensive outbursts, rather than consternation over what necessitated them in the first place.

Penn State doesn't have that offense anymore. The Nittany Lions, with ineffective quarterback play and a young group of unproven running backs, can't steamroll a sizable halftime deficit into the turf as they once could.

And so that leaves the Penn State defense heading into another weekend of preparation searching for something — anything — that might help it get out of the gate faster.

"You've got to tell yourself that in the beginning you want to start off strong," Oweh said. "You can't give Big Ten teams 10 points, 20-something points in the first half, it's just not going to be good for you.

"I can't give you a clear answer. I know what I tell myself is trying to get the first pop, get the first hit, and then build off that it's just going to keep going. I feel like we all got to do that collectively. And once we do that, we'll be fine."

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