Little went right for Penn State on Saturday. But after yesterday's Associated Press poll came out, things could've be a lot worse.
The Nittany Lions were still ranked -- albeit at No. 25 -- showing that voters still have confidence in Joe Paterno's young team. And, maybe, they gave linebacker Paul Posluszny the benefit of the doubt when he said the 41-17 loss wasn't going to be difficult to rebound from.
"The thing about this loss is that there were just so many things that we could've helped ourselves out with, and we didn't," Posluszny said. "There were so many things that went wrong that are easily fixable."
Numerous mistakes -- turnovers, penalties and a late first-half touchdown -- caused the Lions to shoot themselves in the foot early in the game.
And it was all downhill after halftime. Even Notre Dame's players noticed a shift in Penn State's attitude.
"I could definitely see it after [Tom Zbikowski's] fumble return for a touchdown. That kind of took the wind out of them," Fighting Irish co-captain Travis Thomas said. "Guys were holding their heads down a little bit, looking really discouraged."
Penn State hasn't had to deal with a disappointing, early-season loss like that since 2001. The Lions opened that season up with a 26-point loss to then-No.2 Miami (Fla.), 33-7, and followed it up by dropping three straight games en route to a 5-6 campaign, their first losing season since 1988.
It's uncertain where the Lions will go from here, but some players believed the team's going to have to play with a different mentality.
"Me, personally, and the way most of the guys are going to look at this, it's a new season now," linebacker Dan Connor said.
"You gotta start from scratch."
Day to remember
Offense: Jordan Norwood. For the second straight game, the 168-pound wideout -- five pounds less than kicker Kevin Kelly -- did much to impress, catching six balls for 91 yards. Norwood's 13 receptions this year are the most in the first two games of the season by a Penn State player in at least eight years.
Defense: Dan Connor. The linebacker may not earn conference honors again this week, but his seven solo tackles (and five for assisted stops) are easily tops for the team. Connor continued to live up to his hard-hitting reputation Saturday, making several hits that were heard from the press box.
Day to forget
Offense: Derrick Williams. Even Williams said it "wasn't the best of D-Will." Williams flashed his game-breaking speed but couldn't pull in a couple catchable passes, most notably a long toss from Morelli that fell right through his outstretched hands. Williams finished with only 12 receiving yards.
Defense: Secondary. Quinn completed 69 percent of his passes, as the Lions often didn't get their heads turned around during coverage. Allowing the Irish's quarterback to score with 90 seconds left in the first half virtually shifted all the momentum in Notre Dame's favor.
Quotable
Notre Dame safety Tom Zbikowski during Friday's pep rally when opening his co-captain speech. "I'm not as classy as Travis [Thomas]. I don't have great one-liners like Brady [Quinn] does, but -- umm -- I do have a Mohawk!"
Extra point
Saturday's loss has to stay fresh in the minds of the players -- beating the mighty Penguins this week will hardly give the team a sense of redemption. Next week could be "make or break" time for the Lions, but this week? Well, at least Penn State will able to catch up on its homework...
