Sure, they lost. But they lost to the No. 2 team in the nation.

Somehow, that was little consolation to members of the Penn State football team.

"After any loss, you know there are going to be guys that are disappointed," said quarterback Matt Senneca after Saturday's 33-7 drubbing at the hands of Miami. "I'm disappointed myself and I only played the first half."

Most of Miami's starters also sat out the second half after the Hurricanes jumped on the Lions early and often, vaulting out to a 30-0 lead before you could say "halftime."

"We knew going into the game Miami was good," said Penn State head coach Joe Paterno. "We knew we were going to have problems. Obviously you don't think you'll be losing 30-0."

The game was just the fourth home opener the Lions have lost during Paterno's tenure, but the second in the past two seasons. The Toledo Rockets shot into Happy Valley last year and stunned Penn State, 24-6.

Saturday's defeat was no less demoralizing, despite the well-deserved ranking of the Hurricanes.

"It's disappointing, it's really frustrating to me personally," said defensive end Michael Haynes. "But if you're going to lose to somebody, let it be one of the top teams in the country."

And suddenly, a Penn State team that was one of the most dominant college football powers in the 20th century is now 5-8 in the 21st, and has lost 11 of its last 17.

"I tell you what man, I'm just getting tired of losing," said a downtrodden Matt Schmitt. "We've got a long season ahead of us, and we just need to step up our game a little bit."

Now all the Lions can do is go back to work. Penn State is idle this week, and will travel south the following Thursday for a second-consecutive prime-time matchup, this one against the Virginia Cavaliers.

"It's just basically looking at the films and seeing what you need to work on," Senneca said. "And then working on it."

The Virginia game will reveal whether the Lions will be able to bounce back from one of their worst losses of all time.

"I think this will test some guys to see how we've got to get it done," Schmitt said. "This is not gonna break us. We're still going to be a family, we'll still work hard. There's too much pride in this team and too much pride in this university."

For Penn State to right its ship early in the season, some of the older players on the squad, the ones who can remember back to when the Lions were undefeated in early November of 1999, will have to convince their teammates that they can get back to that point.

"It's tough to specifically motivate everybody," Senneca said. "But I think deep down inside, everybody's on the same page and we know our season's definitely not over. This was only our first game."

Schmitt was more prophetic, albeit more blunt.

"We did not do the university justice today, but we will," he said. "We will be a better team."