Penn State enters off week on heels of season’s first loss: ‘We have two weeks to get better now’

IOWA CITY, Iowa — For the first time this season, Penn State needs to rebound from a loss. And the Nittany Lions will have plenty of time to think about it.

Penn State enters its off week after Saturday’s 23-20 loss at Iowa. There are a couple trains of thought when it comes to rebounding from defeats. Some players want to get back out on the field as soon as possible. Others want to comb through the film and take their time before returning to action.

The Nittany Lions will have time, though. When Penn State kicks off at Illinois on Oct. 23, it will have had 13 days off between games. And the Nittany Lions are hoping they will be back on track.

“It is what it is, but we have two weeks to get better now,” said kicker/punter Jordan Stout, a two-time team captain, on Saturday night. “We have two weeks to figure out what we did wrong today, and I think that’s huge.”

"We can do that, too" - @PennStateFball (probably) pic.twitter.com/2fPWfiJXAc

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 9, 2021

The timing of Penn State’s bye falls neatly in the middle of the season. The Nittany Lions have played six games. There are six games left in the season. Penn State’s break at the halfway mark gives coach James Franklin and his staff the chance to regroup and recalibrate for a stretch run that will see the No. 7 Nittany Lions play against No. 6 Ohio State, No. 8 Michigan and No. 10 Michigan State. The games against the Buckeyes and Spartans are on the road.

Franklin knows there will be time for a big picture evaluation of where 5-1 Penn State stands at the halfway mark, but the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s game was not the right moment.

“We just lost against a really good football team on the road,” Franklin said Saturday. “We got to get some things cleaned up tomorrow. And then we got the bye week to do it as well and kind of go from there. The deep dive perspective on where we’re at, I’m not in position to do that right now just coming off the field.”

The 13-day span between games is also fortunate for Penn State given the team’s health. Quarterback Sean Clifford exited during the second quarter and didn’t return. The Nittany Lions scored only three points with backup Ta’Quan Roberson in the game. Defensive tackle PJ Mustipher was lost on the fifth play of the game.

Franklin also highlighted safety Jonathan Sutherland and running backs John Lovett and Devyn Ford as players who were injured and didn’t return to the game.

The players, meanwhile, are focusing on their personal performances in the aftermath of the defeat.

“Well, it starts with tomorrow,” linebacker Curtis Jacobs said. “We got to go in, be honest with ourselves, watch some film and we’ll evaluate that.”

“There’s a lot of things out here that I could have done better,” defensive end Arnold Ebiketie said. “I think me, personally, is focus on the details, trying to get better every single day, and as a team, I’m sure it’s the goal as a team to fix the things that we have to fix to be an even better team moving forward.”

Penn State enters the bye week with its goals still in front of it. Even with the conference loss to Iowa, the Nittany Lions have a path to the Big Ten title game in Indianapolis in November. And given the upheaval around the country — No. 1 Alabama, No. 10 BYU and No. 13 Arkansas also lost Saturday — Penn State still has the opportunity to be a player on the national stage.

There’s a good chance that No. 2 Iowa is waiting at Lucas Oil Stadium for whichever team survives the Big Ten East gauntlet.

But Penn State’s chance to rebound won’t start next week. The Nittany Lions have to wait before they can return to the grass at Beaver Stadium to face Illinois. And when they return, they hope they’re healthy and ready for the stretch run.

“We got a bye week next week,” left tackle Rasheed Walker said. “We’re going to reflect and just use this to just get us through the rest of the season. We know what we have to do. Hopefully, we’ll see these guys later in the season. We just got to take this on the chin and learn from it.”

Daniel Gallen covers Penn State for PennLive. He can be reached at dgallenpennlive.com. Follow PennLive’s Penn State coverage on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.