An apartment on Blue Course Drive grew frighteningly quiet last Saturday as a football sailed through a pair of uprights more than 750 miles away. Blank stares of Penn State students were fixed on the 32-inch television.

Anguished cries rang out from the neighboring apartment, as the group of nine fans, situated on two couches and two wooden bar stools, buried their faces in their hands.

This wasn't how it was supposed to go.

But there, in that apartment at 6:45 p.m., reality set in. The Penn State Nittany Lions were no longer undefeated.

Penn State players shared in the post-loss depression. Especially the seniors and their leader on the field, Daryll Clark who accepted sole blame for Penn State's failure.

Joe Paterno, caught on camera by ABC, pulled himself out of his chair in the Penn State coaches box, but stood for what seemed like an eternity, gazing down at the Iowa fans rushing the field.

That night, back in State College, the weather turned on the Lion faithful. It grew cold, nearly below freezing and the clouds and rain moved in to blanket the college town throughout the week.

Call it post-loss depression or sadness, but Clark and the rest of his teammates don't have time for that. The season's not over yet with two games remaining at home and a shot at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 still up for grabs.

All over the Penn State campus as the days following the Iowa loss wore on, students could be heard playing Monday morning quarterback.

Some of the criticisms?

It was Clark's fault, throwing that interception.

Anthony Scirrotto was to blame for his pass interference.

Tom Bradley's conservative defense lost Penn State the game.

The less Evan Royster in the second half did the Lions in.

Clark and his teammates, didn't have time to point fingers. Clark himself barely had any time to get into town to experience the town-wide sadness. He had Indiana to prepare for.

"A couple of people had walked up and told me to keep my head up and things like that," Clark said Tuesday. "I really haven't had time to go out into the thickness of the town and see what's going on with people. If I'm not at class, I'm back here looking at some things for football, doing some homework. If I'm not doing that I'm at football practice."

All week, players were asked about the most recent, similar situation in 2005. Michigan beat Penn State on a last-second touchdown. It was believed then that Penn State's national title shot was gone. Every senior now who was on that team then, remembers what happened next.

Penn State shook it off. The Lions hung 63 points on Illinois, then outscored the rest of their opponents 101-51 in their last three games.

Center A.Q. Shipley played on that team, along with Clark and both have stated numerous times that it was the senior leadership then that got Penn State through the heartbreaking loss to the Wolverines and allowed them to finish strong with an Orange Bowl win.

The center thinks this season's outcome could be similar.

"We're going to find out what kind of character this team has," Shipley said. "We're going to find out what kind of leadership this team has and we're going to find out what kind of determination this team has in the next two weeks."

Clark has received advice from his friend and former teammate who happened to quarterback the '05 squad.

Former Penn State quarterback and current San Francisco 49er Michael Robinson talked to Clark after the Iowa loss and offered him numerous words of encouragement and tipped him off about what he would need to do to forget about the loss.

"One of the things that I told Daryll and one of the things that I personally made sure of was that when we came out to practice the next week, it was all about Illinois," Robinson said Tuesday night. "We can't talk about Michigan. That game is over. It has to be all about your next opponent."

The first step back up the ladder for Penn State will be against Indiana, a team at 3-7. A team that has been inconsistent all year, has switched quarterbacks weekly and appears to be reeling after losing to Wisconsin 55-20 last week.

Tuesday morning, it seemed as if Clark took his friend's advice as he prepared for his team's first home game in four weeks.

The depression is gone, Clark insisted. The quarterback said he couldn't wait to get back on the field, for himself and for his fans that he felt he let down in Iowa.

"We just wanna play back in Beaver Stadium," he said. "It's been a long time. Everyone's excited to get back and play a high-noon game."