CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- Ask any of the Penn State players, and they'll tell you that, in their eyes, they were supposed to win Saturday's game against Boston College.
"This team didn't strike me as a team that was a better team [than us]," senior linebacker Derek Wake said. "We just came here and shot ourselves in the foot and put ourselves at a disadvantage."
Sophomore linebacker Paul Posluszny said the same, in more exasperated tones.
"We definitely should have won this game," Posluszny said, gaze focused squarely on the floor. "It was a game we definitely had the ability to win. This is a good Boston College team, but we should have beat them."
All "should haves" aside, Penn State, of course, did not win. The Nittany Lions let BC take it to them, 21-7, much like last year, with an offense that had a late-game meltdown and a defense that was worn down repeatedly. The fact that the players feel like they should have beaten BC only makes the loss that much worse, because it's games like these in which the team needs to find some way to come out on top.
After last year's 3-9 season, Penn State coach Joe Paterno talked a whole lot about how in all of the losses, with the exception of the Michigan State blowout, the game was never out of reach. The fact that the team let all of those games go is what broke the season.
This one loss has not yet broken the season at hand, but the way in which the team once again let the game go is troubling. If Penn State can't find a way to win the games that are within reach, to make the clutch plays in the fourth quarter, to maintain composure though in a deficit, this season could take a more disastrous turn than anticipated.
While the Penn State players largely pointed to the team's mistakes as cause for the loss, it wasn't the fact that mistakes were made that was the problem, it was the fact that the team let early mistakes become contagious and interfere with the composure.
Yes, the first BC offensive drive, in which the Eagles were forced to punt twice but regained the ball and scored a touchdown after two roughing the punter penalties, was an unfortunate way to start a game. But instead of thriving off of the positives -- the Penn State defense was actually containing the run and special teams came out aggressively -- it seemed as though the Lions became flustered due to the deficit. As a result, when chances arose to turn the game around, Penn State was wholly unable to seize them.
Take the BC drive in the third quarter that gave the Eagles their third touchdown of the game. It started on the Eagles' 26-yard line. Three first downs later, it was third-and-seven. That was converted. Then it became third-and-two. That was converted. The next first down became fourth-and-two, BC went for it and that was converted, too. Then came a third-and-six. That was converted. And then finally was third-and-goal, which yielded a touchdown. Sixteen plays later, BC was up by 14, 7:51 had been burned from the clock, and the Penn State defense squandered five prime chances to stand between the Eagles and the end zone.
Then there was the offense in the fourth quarter. Three consecutive offensive drives, three Zack Mills passes intercepted. Even worse, one of the three picks came when the Lions were just 12 yards from the end zone.
"It seemed like on big plays when it could have gone either way, we didn't come up with those," senior safety Andrew Guman said. "That's what you have to do to win big games against good teams like this."
That's exactly what Penn State didn't do on Saturday. And that's exactly why the Lions lost, just like so many times last season, in a game that could have been able to go either way.
Friday night, in a nationally televised game of a famous rivalry, Miami came back from a 10-point first-half deficit to defeat Florida State in overtime. That's the type of stamina that makes teams great. That's what poise is.
Penn State doesn't have that sort of poise right now, which is why Saturday night happened. It's hard to say how a team can acquire that sort of poise. But whether or not it is acquired in the course of this season will dictate whether or not this team can find the redemption they've been seeking.
