This is one of the downsides of playing a Florida International.

Dominate as a 41.5-point favorite, and you should.

But struggle, as the Nittany Lions did for practically the entire duration of Saturday afternoon’s game at Beaver Stadium, and it raises caution flags.

The 34-0 outcome did nothing to justify Penn State’s No. 2 ranking and underscored that the Nittany Lions can’t play like this against Oregon and Ohio State and get away with it.

James Franklin didn’t hide from a less-than-desirable performance.

“We made it harder than it needed to be at times,” he said. “I was not happy with how we started.”

The crowd recognized the Nits’ lethargy: It was booing in the first half – mostly at Drew Allar’s inaccuracy.

Allar completed 19-of-33 and was consistently off, missing open receivers and/or not hitting them in stride.

He did not play like the first-round draft pick he’s been projected, and similar future showings could jeopardize that.

Asked to assess his play, Allar said: “I don’t think it was good enough.”

Allar, who started 1-of-5, accepted blame for the offensive struggles, saying, “We have to be more consistent, and that starts with me.”

The Lions saw drives stall in their opener against Nevada and again Saturday. They’ve now attempted seven field goals in two weeks – most from inside 40.

Allar said, “I’m not worried about that yet.”

But he was troubled by the offense’s inefficiency. The Lions punted three times (after none last week) and needed to go for it four times on fourth down in the first half.

Allar admitted he got into his own head.

“It’s me making the easy throws easy,” he said. “I caught myself overthinking.”

He concluded one remedy is “shutting my brain off and just playing. I thought it was better in the second half.”

FIU played tough, starting with converting 3-of-4 fourth downs, which kept the Lions’ offense off the field.

“Defensively,” Franklin said, “we’re not playing fast yet.”

State’s lead was just 13-0 late in the third quarter and 20-0 with under four minutes to play – even though the Nits had no turnovers, had committed just one penalty and blocked a punt.

Penn State’s third-down ineptness (3-of-12) was responsible.

“We were not good on third down,” Franklin said. “That’s why we struggled on offense.”

The run game was a little better as both Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen combined for 220 yards, but the Lions were also stuffed on several short-yardage attempts – going just 3-of-9 on third or fourth and short.

Which is why Franklin felt the offensive line “left some meat on the bone. I think we have a chance to be a dominant front, but I wouldn’t say we’ve played like it up to this point.”

The Lions got timely plays from their punt team, which blocked one (Dom DeLuca), had another alertly downed at the FIU 2 (Audavion Collins), and Gabe Nwosu uncorked a 67-yarder.

That was partially offset by a blocked field goal, two Nwosu kickoffs out of bounds – “can’t have that,” Franklin said – and a nifty 2-point throwback pass to offensive tackle Drew Shelton nullified by a holding penalty.

Franklin attributed some growing pains to the number of young players the Lions have been using during this portion of the schedule, and that makes sense.

Villanova is up next, which won’t prove much, before an open date followed by the season-shaper vs. Oregon.

Franklin summed up Saturday by saying, “We’re not where we need to be.”

And that was before he learned that Oregon had beaten Oklahoma State 69-3.

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Neil Rudel can be reached at nrudel@altoonamirror.com.