Blue White Illustrated

O C T O B E R   1 7 ,   2 0 1 8 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 15 Penn State spent Sunday dissecting the many reasons why it dropped a game against Michigan State in which it had trailed for only 19 seconds. The 21-17 loss, the team's second in a row following a 27-26 setback against Ohio State two weeks earlier, sent the Nittany Lions tumbling from the No. 8 ranking in the Associated Press poll to No. 18. Realistically, Penn State's preseason aspirations of reaching the Big Ten Championship Game and maybe even the College Football Playoff are gone. And making matters even harder to swallow, it's the second consecutive sea- son in which those dreams have been dashed. The sequence that derailed their hopes in 2017 – a one-point road loss to Ohio State followed by a three-point road loss to Michigan State – has been more or less replicated this year, as the Lions fol- lowed their one-point home loss to the Buckeyes with a four-point home loss to the Spartans. Over the ensuing days, weeks, months and maybe even years, fans and media will pore over every factor that contributed to the losses. Late-game management, de- fensive lapses down the stretch, missed offensive opportunities – all have already been given serious contemplation, both by those within the program and certainly by those who follow it. But, as a practical matter, Penn State can't afford to dwell on its missed oppor- tunities. The Lions will face Indiana on Saturday, followed by games against Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Rutgers and Mary- land, four of which are presently sitting in the top half of their respective Big Ten di- vision races, and three of which are ranked among the top 25 teams in the na- tion. So the Nittany Lions are hardly out of the woods. In fact, for a team that ap- pears to be suffering from something of an identity crisis, finding the personality that brought it into the nation's top 10 is now of immediate, critical importance. Head coach James Franklin insisted that the way forward will be to make an even greater effort toward mastering the skills that will be necessary to win those up- coming games. But, he added, human na- ture oBen tends to pull people in the opposite direction. "I think the natural thing to do, espe- cially when you're young, is when you in- vest in something and you don't have the success that you think you should have, a lot of people start to pull back because that hurts," Franklin said. "When you in- vest a lot in something and you don't have the success that you should have, a lot of people, a lot of organizations, invest less. "I'm a big believer that that's actually when you [should] invest more. You con- tinue to invest more and you drive through those situations, you drive through those circumstances. I don't know a profession, I don't know a career and I don't know a game where you can have a high level of success without a high level of investment. We're going to con- tinue to invest a high level of effort, a high level of emotion, a high level of passion. We're going to continue to invest." If the reactions from some of the Nit- tany Lion players who appeared to answer questions in front of the media Saturday night are any indication, that effort began in earnest moments aBer the game ended. Kevin Givens, Shareef Miller, Miles Sanders and Michal Menet all were upset that the Lions had lost a game they were seemingly well-positioned to win. The players were disappointed not just by the outcome but by the quality of the per- formance itself and said they were deter- mined to recommit themselves to an even higher, more intense level of preparation in its wake. "Honestly, I feel like everybody kind of leB the locker room on the same page," Menet said. "Everybody is ready and will- ing to come in. Everybody needs to just look themselves in the mirror, and just be very critical of themselves. I know we're all going to do that, we're going to grow from this a lot, and I'm excited to see where we go from it." Franklin and the Penn State coaching staff will be confronted with the same challenges. He admitted following the loss to the Buckeyes that sometimes coaches can be more deeply affected by a loss than the players, and the Lions' staff will be put to the test as the team pre- pares for its trip to Bloomington this weekend. Players, coaches and certainly Penn State fans are well aware of the disap- pointment currently enveloping the pro- gram. The question now is whether it's just a temporary setback that this group will be able to overcome, or a stumbling block that will devolve into something more. Lions eager to see investment reap dividends Sanders is the Big Ten's sec- ond-leading rusher this sea- son with 700 yards through six games. He gained 162 yards in Penn State's 21-17 loss to Michi- gan State last Saturday. Photo by Steve Manuel A N A L Y S I S B Y N A T E B A U E R

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