EVANSTON, Ill. -- It gets markedly more difficult to be optimistic about the Penn State football season after a sixth straight loss, but it becomes an issue when the players, not the fans, stop believing the team can win.

That might just be happening. It could be the coaching staff's worst nightmare.

After Saturday's loss to a high-spirited Northwestern football squad in front of a crowd that could have been outdrawn by a high school game, some Penn State players said they felt a handful of their teammates had given up on the game once the Nittany Lions lost the lead in the fourth quarter.

"I don't know if it's they're just tired," redshirt freshman wide receiver Maurice Humphrey said. "I just think there are some kids that were just standing by the heater and not worrying about the game, or just sitting there and talking. They have to be into the game."

While Humphrey did not specify the players he was referring to, he went on to say that at times of adversity, he believes some individuals simply do not have faith that Penn State can win a football game and called out the non-believers.

"I just hope they realize that if you're down by a touchdown, you can come back and win," Humphrey said. "That's what I think they don't understand. Once we get down, it's hard for us to come back and win. There are teams that come back and win."

Penn State wasn't one of those teams on Saturday.

Instead, there were a lot of blank faces after time expired, as players expressed a combination of a season's worth of frustration, shock and disbelief, losing to a team that has spent the last two seasons at the bottom of the conference.

Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, did not notice any lack of effort on or off the field and said he still sees some positives coming out of the loss to Northwestern.

"As you can imagine, I have all kinds of thoughts going through my head," Paterno said. "We have a bunch of kids playing hard. They'll do better things. It's tough. This will be the toughest one we've had. I just want them to get thinking about winning."

This heading into the final two weeks of the regular season.

Despite Paterno's reassurance, Humphrey wasn't the only one who had some unnerving thoughts. One of his teammates also saw something similar to his observation.

Sean McHugh, normally the reserved and collected cornerstone senior leader of the team, was visibly angry as he spoke to the media about the possibility of several Nittany Lions throwing in the proverbial towel, not only against the Wildcats, but for the remaining two games.

"They better be angry and they better be mad," McHugh said. "If they're not, I'll make sure something happens."

For McHugh, the remaining games are meaningful despite the fact that the Lions haven't been bowl eligible for weeks. These are the final games of his college football career and he said he wants everyone else on the team to realize that for him and the rest of the team's seniors.