How Penn State Is Responding to its Season-Changing Loss to UCLA

Even after two soul-crushing losses, the Nittany Lions say they have belief. They cite the bond of the locker room and credit Franklin for that. Mack said the team is a brotherhood, while safety Zakee Wheatley used the word “family” to describe the team earlier in the week. 

“Yes, [the loss] happened, but we just can't sit and grieve it,” Mack said. “We still have the season ahead of us, and we all know that we can compete. We can compete with the top teams in the country. 

“We know what we're capable of. We're not letting just one little loss define us. We know who we are. We worked throughout fall camp, throughout this whole year. So yeah, we’re good, we’re ready. We’re prepared and ready for this weekend.”

After Penn State’s 30-24 loss to Oregon in late September, Rappleyea was angry.  He stayed up until 4 a.m. watching film, which Rappleyea said plenty of teammates did as well. By Sunday night after that game, Rappleyea thought everyone had flushed the loss and was ready for the Bruins.

“Okay, let's focus on UCLA,” Rappleyea said of his approach last week. "But I think that if we could go back, everyone would change things, there's no denying that. But I think that we prepared as we were always preparing. [UCLA] just came out and played better than us.”

“We prepared as we were always preparing,” is key to note. The team hasn’t changed much, if anything, in terms of its preparation routine ahead of playing Northwestern on Saturday. Franklin leans into routine, particularly after a potentially season-defining loss to a formerly winless UCLA team. Rappleyea said he is happy with the consistency. 

“The biggest thing is that nothing has changed,” Rappleyea said. “And in a good way, in the sense that we treat every single week [the same]. Monday, we start from scratch. We prepare for Saturday, get 1-0, win the game. Sunday, come in, enjoy [the] win, reset. 

“The biggest thing is, we’ve been going back to the basics and treating every single week like, just go 1-0. Don't think about ahead. Don't think about this. Don't think about that. Just focus on doing your job the best you can. Just go get the win.”

Added Mack, “I know for sure that we have a very talented team, and we're on the right path. We're good. As long as we keep trusting our coaches and keep doing what we're told, we're going to be totally fine.”

Franklin won’t ‘overreact’

Asked whether he plans to be more involved with the offensive or defensive playcalling, Franklin said that he’s “going to be hands on every single week as much as I have to be to support” his coordinators and staff. But Franklin also said that he won’t “overreact” to the losses.

“We've had a process here that's been pretty consistent at a pretty high level for a long time,” Franklin said. “So what we’re also not going to do is overreact. I’ve hired really good coaches with really good experience and really good backgrounds. So at the end of the day, I'm going to let them do their jobs, but I'm going to be supportive and step in and have the conversations I need to have when appropriate.”

A callback to Joe Paterno

Franklin sounded an awful lot like Joe Paterno on Wednesday, channeling one of the quotes the late Penn State coach often used in his 46 seasons.

“It starts with all of us looking in the mirror and making the adjustments we can make and owning it, and then moving forward in a positive direction, and reminding the players that we're closer than maybe it feels right now and [how] it's being reported, right?” Franklin said. “It's never as bad as you think. It's never as good as you think. Although it feels bad right now to everybody. I get it.”

Penn State hosts Northwestern on Saturday at Beaver Stadium in its annual homecoming game. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.