Penn State looks ahead to what's next after loss to Michigan State

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Daequan Hardy still was enmeshed in the rhythm of the regular season Saturday evening, even after the final whistle had blown on his redshirt sophomore year. The Penn State cornerback kept referring to “next week.” The Nittany Lions have an opportunity next week, Hardy said. He wants to go “1-0,” the favorite motto of coach James Franklin, next week.

Of course, next Saturday marks the first without football since August, save for an October bye week, for Hardy and Penn State. The Nittany Lions wrapped up their 12-game regular season schedule with a 30-27 loss at Michigan State in the snow Saturday to put their record at 7-5.

Now, Penn State waits to find out what bowl it will play in and when (and where) that will be. Overall, it will be four weeks or so before the Nittany Lions return to the field. So what’s next for a Penn State team that stumbled down the stretch for a disappointing season?

“I guess taking a little bit of a break the next couple of days,” quarterback Sean Clifford said. “I know I could use a break, to be honest with you. Just kind of ease my mind, put football in the side view for just a couple days, be with some family, see my girlfriend maybe, just kind of focus on finishing school off, too. I’m working toward my second degree, just kind of again making sure that I’m all good there.

“But no, obviously, I think that come Wednesday, probably, breaking down the whole season, looking at every little bit. The completions, the incompletions, the interceptions, what was what, what happened and what I could have done better, and then just evaluate it.”

Franklin said his coaching staff will be out on the road recruiting, and there also will be meetings with players ahead of bowl prep.

Penn State has plenty of things to work on between now and its bowl game. The running game remains a mystery, the normally stout defense was gashed by the Michigan State offense and little mistakes have compounded in defeats.

The loss to the Spartans provided plenty of fodder for film review as the Nittany Lions look to move forward.

“Just really just fixing the little stuff, the details and correcting things that we need to fix,” running back Keyvone Lee said. “Get back on track.”

Those aforementioned “details” by Lee have proven to be a thorn in Penn State’s side down the stretch. Michigan State converted 50% of its third-down attempts and 75% of its fourth-down attempts.

On the other end, Penn State was 5 of 13 on third down, and the Nittany Lions struggled yet again on short-yardage situations.

“Nothing really gets in the way of the next step,” running back Devyn Ford said. “It’s just about doing what you got to do the next week and executing. Clean up the mistakes you had in this game today, go in the film room tomorrow, Monday, come back the next week and get prepared for the bowl game, try to clean everything that had — clean up everything that we did wrong in this game, try to make it an improvement the next game.”

Penn State has one more chance to make a lasting impression for the 2021 season, and it remains to be seen how the Nittany Lions will make it. But the 30-27 loss at Michigan State was a sour end to a sour back half of the schedule that saw Penn State lose five of its final seven games.

The Nittany Lions have preached getting better and the need to improve throughout the season. And with four weeks or so between now and the bowl game, Penn State will attempt to make good on those promises.

“We just got to keep fighting … and try to go 1-0 next week in this bowl game,” Hardy said.

“It’s about going into the film room, correcting mistakes and just trying to be 1% better each week,” Ford said. “That’s all it is.”