The Penn State football team suffered more than a bad loss Saturday night against No. 1 Miami.

The Nittany Lions lost outside linebacker Derek Wake for the season with a torn medial collateral ligament and medial capsule and starting quarterback Matt Senneca injured his throwing elbow in the 33-7 pummeling by the Hurricanes.

Wake, who was making his first start at outside linebacker, flipped over Miami running back Willis McGahee and landed awkwardly on the Beaver Stadium turf. The sophomore has a redshirt year available and since his rehabilitation can take 9-12 months, Lions coach Joe Paterno might opt to redshirt Wake.

Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli said in a Penn State press release that Wake will have surgery later this week to repair his torn knee ligament.

Paterno said on the Big Ten Teleconference on Tuesday that he hasn't made a decision on a replacement for Wake.

However, in the Miami game, there was not one set of linebackers that played the whole way through. The Lions experimented with a plethora of linebackers, so whoever takes his place at outside linebacker will have some game experience under his belt.

Senneca's injury might not be as serious, but he will be watched closely this week in the Lions' preparation for next Thursday's matchup with Virginia.

The junior quarterback injured his ulnar nerve near his right elbow when he was hit in the first quarter, but should be ready to return for Penn State's second game of the season on Sept. 13.

"I can't lift anything right now," Senneca said in the media room following Saturday's contest. "I don't have any feeling and I'm going to have to wait and see what is wrong with it."

Penn State's starting quarterback was injured, but the player of the game was his backup, redshirt freshman Zack Mills. He entered the game when Senneca got injured in the first half and didn't do much before halftime.

But when Senneca couldn't continue in the second stanza, Mills re-entered and threw for 244 yards and a touchdown pass to Lions receiver Bryant Johnson for the only Penn State score.

"We didn't know what was going on with him," offensive lineman Matt Schmitt said of Senneca. "He kept coming in and out of the game and we just thought that he had a stinger or something minor."

Even though Mills had much better statistics and kept Penn State from getting shut out against the Hurricanes, Senneca will probably start at Virginia, if his right elbow has healed.

Paterno said Senneca will start if he isn't injured, but added that if he isn't ready by two or three days before the Virginia contest, Mills might have to take his place. But Senneca's injury shouldn't be that serious, so the Allentown native will have a chance to redeem himself against the Cavaliers.

"He was running for his life," Paterno said. "He got hit and he tried to go again but he had no feeling in his hand."