PASADENA, Calif. -- A.Q. Shipley bit back tears, his upper lip firmly tucked under the bottom, his face red as he walked up to the tunnel leading to the locker room.
Nittany Lion fans had assembled above the tunnel to offer words of support for Shipley and the Lions, after Penn State fell to USC, 38-24, in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day.
"Keep your heads up!" Penn State fans chanted in unison as Shipley walked by.
For much of the day, Penn State players' heads were up, tilted toward the sky, watching footballs thrown by Trojan quarterback Mark Sanchez find receiver after receiver for score after score. Sanchez shredded the Nittany Lion defense for 413 yards and four touchdowns.
Sanchez did most of his damage in the second quarter. Penn State's defense gave up passing touchdowns of 19 and 20 yards and allowed the Trojan quarterback to rush for another. At halftime, the large contingency of Penn State fans that stretched around the Rose Bowl's north end zone and had drowned out the USC fans before the game, had grown eerily quiet in the wake of USC's 31-7 lead.
Despite the big advantage, Penn State players said they didn't think their opponents had the game in-hand.
"We felt like we hurt ourselves more so than anything else," senior wideout Jordan Norwood said of the first half. "Our defense was going over their duties and felt like they could play better. We felt like we were still in the game."
Despite committing seven first-half penalties, fumbling once and losing starting running back Evan Royster early in the first quarter, Penn State outscored USC in the second half.
The Lions' 17 fourth-quarter points were not enough, however, to overcome the early mistakes. Quarterback Daryll Clark's final pass was picked off in the end zone.
After the game, Joe Paterno, Clark and cornerback Lydell Sargeant took seats behind a table under a tent outside the stadium. Paterno fielded most of the questions as Clark and Sargeant looked on with dejected expressions.
Paterno's message to his players echoed that of their fans.
"I told the team, I said, 'Hold your heads up. You've had a great year,' " Paterno said. " 'We didn't play our football game in the first half, but we came back and we hung in there and you have nothing to be ashamed of.' "
The Rose Bowl loss was the final collegiate game for 17 Lions, many of whom had tears in their eyes as they walked off the field. Mark Rubin made a quick right hand turn down the hallway leading to the team bus. Other seniors, like Shipley and Derrick Williams, did not speak to the media.
Senior captain Anthony Scirrotto clutched his green-stained, tattered jersey in his right hand, his scarred helmet in his left as he talked to reporters.
The loss snapped a three-game bowl winning streak for Paterno and the Lions. The streak began with the current crop of seniors.
After finishing the season 11-2, Paterno reiterated what his senior class meant to the Penn State program, despite going out with a loss.
"They're a very special group because when most of them got started at Penn State, we were struggling," Paterno said. "They had to take a chance on whether the program was going to move up with them.
"I think we've had a good relationship. I'm going to miss them. I know that."
