CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- It wasn't supposed to end this way for Penn State's 18 seniors.

Not after the way they pulled their team together down the stretch to win five of six games and put them in place to earn a bowl bid with just one more victory.

But cruelly, this band of Nittany Lions saw their season end in central Virginia rather than San Antonio or El Paso.

"I'm at a loss for words right now," senior tailback Eric McCoo said. "I really don't know what to say. It's a heck of a way to end your career, but I'm satisfied with what happened and I'm just so happy for my teammates and the guys who'll come back next year."

Nobody's pointing fingers at why this team lost this game. And nobody should since there were faults in nearly every facet of the Lions' game.

Still quarterbacks Zack Mills and Matt Senneca were obviously dejected after the game and felt they owed their senior teammates a serious apology after accounting for all of Penn State's five turnovers.

"It's really disappointing, especially for the seniors who've been through so much," Senneca said. "We were just one win from turning this whole thing around."

But the seniors won't hear any of that. The defense had trouble stopping the run while the Lions' kicking game wasn't sharp enough to enable them to pull out a win in a close contest.

"We went out and played hard but I just believe Virginia came out and played a great game," McCoo said. "They had our number in the fourth quarter and we couldn't do some things we would've like to do."

Although their careers are now over, these Lions said they were part of something special and are hoping the late season success that they helped generate will carry over into next season.

"I think we're really going to be remembered in a good light," senior tight end John Gilmore said. "I think these guys next year are going to do great things and when they look at next season, they'll be able to say that it all started here.

"I don't think it'll hit until a few years down the road. This team is going to contribute to something big that's going to happen in the next couple of years."

Outsiders to the program may look at this group and may unfairly label them as underachievers since they won't be bowling for a second straight season.

But there's more to being part of a team than just winning. This particular group has been through some of the most trying times in Penn State football history.

They were there when the Rashard Casey saga unfolded and they formed an unbreakable bond last season when then freshman Adam Taliaferro suffered the most horrific injury in football.

Yet they were also present during some of Penn State's most triumphant moments. Early in their careers, they helped coach Joe Paterno earn his 300th victory. They were key components of a team that was ranked No. 1 in the country. And this year, they climbed out of a seemingly bottomless pit of a season to win five of their last seven games, helping Paterno break Bear Bryant's all-time coaching victory mark.

"They've had some good moments and some bad ones," Paterno said. "I hope that they got a good experience out of this. We appreciated their efforts and this team wouldn't have been able to do anything at all unless they showed leadership."