In a stunning, 21-17 loss to Michigan State for the Nittany Lions, the defense played great, but at a point late in the game, they gave up that winning score. The offense had only three, second half points. Trace McSorley becomes Penn State's all-time leading passer, all in a loss.
"We had a chance to put them away several times on offense, on defense, and on special teams and we didn't do it," Penn State head coach James Franklin said. "We let them stay in the game, let them stay in the game. What happened out there today, I get that, we've got to be able to finish. We've got to be able to finish on offense, defense, special teams, all three phases and we didn't do that today."
"Talking about two weeks ago, I felt we played good enough to win and we just and we just didn't. Today, we just didn't play good enough to win," Penn State senior quarterback Trace McSorley said, after setting the school record for passing. "Like I said, I didn't play good enough to win and coach (James) Franklin is probably going to say the same thing. As a team, that's our problem. We're disappointed and frustrated today because we didn't play - I didn't play good enough to win."
"We can't let this get to us," Penn State freshman wide receiver K.J. Hamler added. "It's a loss. A loss is a loss. Nothing else you can do about it. Michigan State was a great team. They played good. They out-worked us. So, we've just got to bounce back. There's really nothing else to do. We've got to come together as a team, come together as one and bounce back and just be prepared. We've got to prepare more. So that's all I have to say."
"Starting with me, personally, I don't think I did enough," Penn State junior safety Garrett Taylor said. "I had too many missed tackles, dropped that pick. I think it was in the fourth quarter. It could have put the game away. As a defense, we made too many mistakes. We hurt ourselves and if you want to win in the Big Ten, you can't do that. So, we've got to go back, coach (James) Franklin talked about practicing like it's game day. So, whatever we need to change this coming week, fix our practice habits so we can come out and not hurt ourselves come next Saturday."
Penn State plays at Indians next week.