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<p>Unfortunately for Trace McSorley, he&#8217;s been through this before. Same with Penn State&#8217;s other veterans.</p><p>Immediately in the aftermath of losing to Ohio State and then Michigan State on Saturday, the quarterback reflected on last fall, when the Nittany Lions also dropped back-to-back games to the Buckeyes and Spartans.</p><p>A year, ago they rebounded by winning their final three regular season games, capping it off with a victory over Washington in the Fiesta Bowl.</p><p>So what helped turn things around?</p><p>&#8220;I think we just got back to basics and focused on the here and now,&#8221; McSorley said. &#8220;Two back-to-back losses, it humbles you in a way. It makes you realize you&#8217;re not as good as you thought you were. Or maybe you&#8217;re not doing everything you need to be doing to live up to your potential.</p><p>&#8220;So I think that was probably part of it. Now I expect us to get back to our formula of 1-0, one game at a time. Working to our standard every single day. Working with precision and executing. And those are the things we didn&#8217;t do (Saturday) that are why we lost the game.&#8221;</p><p>It helped, of course, that the Lions got to face Rutgers at home after the pair of demoralizing losses. After that were games against freefalling Nebraska and Maryland squads.</p><p>This time, there are six games left to play. And if the Lions can&#8217;t get back on track on Saturday at Indiana with a decisive win, they&#8217;re going to have plenty of trouble over the next three games against No. 19 Iowa, No. 6 Michigan and No. 23 Wisconsin, with the Hawkeyes and Wolverines both ranked in the top five nationally in total defense.</p><p>&#8220;I think the biggest thing for all of us &#8212; coaches, players, everybody involved in the organization &#8212; is sticking to our process and focusing on the things that we can control,&#8221; Lions coach James Franklin said. &#8220;Making sure our players are doing that as well as the coaches. Focusing on our schemes. Making sure that we&#8217;re being as detailed as we possibly can in meetings. That we&#8217;re holding everybody accountable to that standard every single day at practice. And that the old guys are helping the young guys mature as much as they possibly can &#8212; to understand the seriousness and the significance of that standard.</p><p>&#8220;So I think that&#8217;s the biggest thing that we have to do is make sure that we&#8217;re sticking together, that we&#8217;re staying positive and that we&#8217;re focusing on the things that we can control, and get those things fixed and get better at them. Because obviously, last week we did not do that.&#8221;</p><p>Much of that burden will fall on Penn State&#8217;s senior captains &#8212; McSorley on offense and safety Nick Scott on defense.</p><p>McSorley was one of the first players in the media room after the loss to the Spartans, sitting down before a horde of cameras and recorders and taking responsibility for the loss, saying he didn&#8217;t play well enough to win.</p><p>&#8220;Definitely he took it real hard,&#8221; junior guard Connor McGovern said. &#8220;But it affected all of us, that loss. No one wants to lose, especially two in a row at home. This week we just have to come out and keep working harder.</p><p>&#8220;I know Trace is going to step up, be a big-time leader and be very vocal. And that&#8217;s how we all have to be this week to prepare against Indiana.&#8221;</p><p>Returning starters like McGovern and fellow offensive linemen Ryan Bates and Steven Gonzalez will have to be part of the solution. Because while the 2017 squad had a deep core of seniors &#8212; vocal seniors, at that &#8212; there just aren&#8217;t that many on the 2018 roster who are still healthy and playing regularly.</p><p>On offense, the only seniors are McSorley and DeAndre Thompkins, but the wideout has not had a big role so far this season outside of punt returns. Brandon Polk has been starting ahead of him at receiver.</p><p>On defense, it&#8217;s Koa Farmer at linebacker, then Scott and Amani Oruwariye in the secondary.</p><p>&#8220;The tone is that we have to just get better,&#8221; Farmer said. &#8220;I mean, I think it sucks that we lost two home games in a row. But ultimately we&#8217;ve got to get better. I mean, we can&#8217;t live in the past. Things need to be corrected from the last two games, and I just think we have to get better from here on out.&#8221;</p><p>Against the Buckeyes, the offense put up one of its highest yardage totals in the series in years. But the defense couldn&#8217;t hold a 12-point lead in the final eight minutes.</p><p>Against the Spartans, the defense kept a lid on things until the very end of the game. But the offense scored its fewest points in more than two years and couldn&#8217;t get one first down to close things out in the final minutes.</p><p>How they respond against the Hoosiers will depend on how the leaders guide the rest of the team.</p><p>&#8220;Yeah, we have a younger team. There&#8217;s no doubt about it,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;There are less of those guys that have been through this type of adversity before. But the ones that we do have, I think, have really strong voices and are culture-drivers for us and have been really good.</p><p>&#8220;But does it strain those guys? Yeah, because there&#8217;s less of them. &#8230; We have less of those guys on offense and defense, so those guys have to have stronger voices for us, there&#8217;s no doubt about it. They have been through this adversity and they have been through the challenges before. And we have to push our way through it.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Penn State guard Connor McGovern (66) said he expects Trace McSorley (9) to take control of the team this week. &#8216;I know Trace is going to step up, be a big-time leader and be very vocal.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_AP18287012881069.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penn State guard Connor McGovern (66) said he expects Trace McSorley (9) to take control of the team this week. &#8216;I know Trace is going to step up, be a big-time leader and be very vocal.&#8217; </caption0><photoCredit0>Abby Drey | AP photo, Centre Daily Times </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Nittany Lions turning to leaders to put a halt to losing skid