PJ Mustipher, Penn State ‘don’t believe in revenge games’ entering Indiana rematch

UNIVERSITY PARK — It’s human nature to want revenge, right? It’s a natural response to being wronged, and it’s one that sometimes can overwhelm and engulf someone.

It would seem right and, in a way, normal for Penn State to want revenge on Indiana entering the teams’ Saturday night meeting at Beaver Stadium. The image of Hoosiers quarterback Michael Penix Jr. stretching to the pylon at Memorial Stadium last October was a lasting one that helped define a breakout Indiana season and a disastrous Penn State one.

The Nittany Lions never seemed to recover from the 36-35 loss to the Hoosiers in the opener. They started 0-5 before finishing 4-5. At that point, though, there was too much ground to make up. Indiana finished 6-2 in one of the program’s most successful seasons ever.

It would be hard to fault Penn State to want to erase the memory of last year with a strong showing Saturday night. But the No. 4 Nittany Lions believe there’s already enough motivation present this season that they don’t need to draw on 2020.

“Nah, man. We don’t believe in revenge games,” defensive tackle PJ Mustipher said Tuesday morning. “We’re focused on this week. We can’t focus on last year, man, because it really has nothing to — last year already happened. We can’t do nothing about that. We can’t go back and change time.”

Later Tuesday, Penn State coach James Franklin took a similar line. Franklin said the only time he hears about the concept of a “revenge game” is when he is asked questions by the media. He acknowledged there are things that Penn State can draw on from last year’s meeting in Bloomington, but those are mostly practical and not emotional.

“For us, we’re trying to beat Tom Allen and the Indiana football team for this season and this season alone,” Franklin said.

Mustipher said it can be difficult to go against his human nature at times, but it is something he has gotten better at over time in college. And much of that credit goes to Franklin’s messaging to his players.

This year, Franklin has emphasized the need to be “1-0″ every week over and over again, with the idea that if Penn State does that enough times, the Nittany Lions will end up where they want to be. So far, Penn State is 4-0 through four weeks with wins over then-No. 12 Wisconsin and then-No. 22 Auburn on its resume.

And Mustipher cited that mindset as something that can help block out the need for “revenge” or something else along those lines.

“I definitely think I’ve had to learn that,” Mustipher said. “But I also think it’s extremely important that — I think a lot of people get tired of hearing about this ‘1-0 each week’ stuff, but for us it’s so important for us to do that because if we start thinking about this game, that game, that game, then we’re not all bought in on the game we have to play, and then we could go out there and if you’re not focused, you’re going to lose, just based off who we play each week. So it’s extremely important for us.”

This year was when that lesson and message from Franklin really sunk in for Mustipher, the senior team captain said. In order for Penn State to reach its goals at the end of the season, it has to reach its goals every week.

And right now, those goals don’t include revenge.

“We’re focused on getting ready for this 2021 Indiana team, and they’re extremely talented,” Mustipher said. “So all our focus is going into getting ready and preparing the best we can for them and strapping up on Saturday and going out there and playing.”