web1_121600138-cb37019a10b44656af0e4867e4c44d1f.jpg

Patriots pull away from Packers, 31-17

web1_Aston-Reese-Zach.jpg

Aston-Reese gets hot for Penguins, but Bridgeport catches fire

<p>DETROIT &#8212; The word from the aftermath of the trainwreck was &#8220;quiet.&#8221;</p><p>For Penn State players, there wasn&#8217;t a whole lot that needed to be said after Saturday&#8217;s 42-7 loss at Michigan. Not at all like the narrow defeats to Ohio State and Michigan State that stirred up plenty of anger earlier in the season.</p><p>&#8220;Definitely a quiet locker room,&#8221; linebacker Cam Brown said. &#8220;Guys aren&#8217;t talking as much as they&#8217;re reflecting on the game, reflecting on what they could do better.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;It was pretty quiet,&#8221; linebacker Jan Johnson said. &#8220;Everyone just needs to go back and look at what they did and how they could have improved and how they could&#8217;ve changed the outcome of this game.</p><p>&#8220;Instead of people getting too involved with what everyone else is doing, we just need to focus on what you&#8217;re doing as an individual to contribute to the team and help us win.&#8221;</p><p>It doesn&#8217;t figure to be a fun process.</p><p>Sunday was film review for the Nittany Lions, and there was next to nothing positive to take from the game.<section><section class="article-body"></section></section></p><p class="p1">&#8220;(It&#8217;s) going to suck, it&#8217;s going to hurt, it&#8217;s going to feel like getting punched in the gut for however many plays of football we played,&#8221; quarterback Trace McSorley predicted Saturday night. &#8220;It&#8217;s going to be tough. But we&#8217;re gonna have to watch it and be critical of ourselves and take a professional approach understanding what we did wrong and how we need to correct it.&#8221;</p><p>The Lions will have to figure things out quickly as they prepare for an opponent that has also seen lofty preseason expectations come crashing down to earth as an unranked Wisconsin team, also sitting at 6-3, comes to Beaver Stadium on Saturday. That game will kick off at noon on ABC.</p><p>After that, it&#8217;s games against Rutgers and Maryland to close out the regular season. But the Badgers will be the biggest test, as they bring one of the country&#8217;s top running backs in Jonathan Taylor to attack a Penn State run defense that has been shaky at times.</p><p>The plan, according to James Franklin, is to conserve energy over the next few days.</p><p>&#8220;I think the biggest thing is we&#8217;ve got to be smart with how we practice this week,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;We&#8217;ve gotta give our guys the best chance to put this game behind us and move forward. Practice smart this week and take some of the wear and tear off of them so we can be fresh as we possibly can come Saturday. So we have to make some adjustments with how we practice and how we work.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Postseason picture</strong></p><p>Now completely out of both the College Football Playoff picture as well as the Big Ten race, Penn State will most likely be headed to Florida for their bowl game.</p><p>While nothing is guaranteed, a 9-3 Lions team could be ticketed for Orlando to play in the Citrus Bowl. At 8-4 or worse, the Outback Bowl in Tampa could be the destination. Penn State has not played in those games since the 2009 and 2010 seasons, respectively.</p><p>The best-case scenario, perhaps, would still include a slim chance at a New Year&#8217;s Six bowl. But on top of winning out, it will require a good bit of help.</p><p>The Lions were a lock for a top-tier game the past two years, claiming an automatic bid with a conference title to land in the Rose Bowl in 2016 and then securing a spot in the Fiesta Bowl last season.</p><p>Penn State finished both of those regular seasons with just two losses, however. The odds are much less likely with three.</p><p>Since the new format built around the Playoff began in 2018, there have been eight three-loss teams to be selected to a New Year&#8217;s Six bowl, though a few of them &#8212; like USC in 2016 against Penn State &#8212; were conference champions on auto bids.</p><p>The Orange and Cotton host the semifinals this year, so they&#8217;re both out. As is the Rose &#8212; which will take a higher-ranked Big Ten team than Penn State &#8212; and the Sugar, which is already set as an SEC-Big 12 matchup.</p><p>The Fiesta would not want a team for two straight years. But the Peach Bowl, which has no conference tie-ins, could be a potential landing spot if the Lions were to regroup and win three straight. Penn State has never played in the Peach Bowl, which is held in Atlanta.</p><p>Even that wouldn&#8217;t be enough on its own, however. Penn State would need to root for some favorites to win out as to not poach any of the at-large spots. So Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and the Michigan-Ohio State winner reaching the Playoff would benefit the Lions. As would some upsets lower in the rankings when the latest batch is released on Tuesday evening.</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_AP18307842678730.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Penn State coach James Franklin said he will scale things back in practice this week, particularly for the defense, to conserve energy for Saturday&#8217;s game with Wisconsin. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_AP18307842678730.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penn State coach James Franklin said he will scale things back in practice this week, particularly for the defense, to conserve energy for Saturday&#8217;s game with Wisconsin. </caption0><photoCredit0>Tony Ding | AP photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div>

Reeling Nittany Lions hope to rebound quickly from worst loss in two years