If being the No. 1-ranked team in the nation was not significant, then losing that position certainly shouldn't matter either.

That is the likely situation facing the Penn State men's gymnastics team, as it suffered its first loss of the season this weekend in Ann Arbor to No. 4 Michigan.

"It was the worst performance that I've had as a team...that I can remember any Penn State team having," Penn State men's gymnastics coach Randy Jepson said.

The lone highlight of the meet for the Nittany Lions was senior Kevin Tan.

Tan, who's grown accustomed to commanding headlines at meets in his four year's at Penn State, put on two national championship caliber performances in the still rings and high bars -- easily winning both.

The 9.900 and 9.750 marks that Tan garnered on the rings and high bar, respectively, both were his best scores of the season.

Tan's untouchable display of gymnastics earned him the Newt Loken Award, which is given to the top competitor at each of Michigan's meets, and second place in the all-around scoring.

The 215.725-212.000 defeat was a lot closer than the score indicated, but some mistakes on the last rotation by the Lions magnified the margin of defeat -- they were down only one point heading into the final rotation of the meet.

Nonetheless, the 212.000 score was significantly lower than the 217.375 the Lions had averaged in climbing their way to the top of the national polls, which included a win against Illini last weekend.

In fact, the drop off in the Lions performance is almost confusing, yet symbolic of what this year's team is all about.

Just one week ago, the Lions took it to the Illini, dominating every facet of the competition -- in total team points -- except the floor exercise.

In stark contrast, this week the Lions only managed to out-score the Wolverines in one event, the still rings apparatus.

"It tells us things about our team that we have fantastic potential -- better potential than I anticipated, but at the same time there is a lot of work to be done," said Jepson of the big win and big loss within the last two weeks.

Jepson believes the sluggish meet in Ann Arbor could be attributed to a light week of practice in Happy Valley and a travel day that didn't allow for the Lions gymnasts to follow the typical road-meet routine by practicing the night before the meet.

Tan didn't feel there was one event the Lions had a superior edge in against Michigan, saying that the Wolverines were strong on almost every event.

That was evident late Friday evening as the meet came to a close, but the Lions aren't making excuses.

"I think we should have beaten them, but we didn't do our job," Jepson said.

"We're a much better team than we showed that's for sure, and it's probably a blessing in disguise because the guys know they have to work."

Tan also believes Illinois was a much better team than what they showed in Rec Hall last Saturday, but they just weren't hitting that night and they were struggling on the Rec Hall apparatus.