The noise coming out of Happy Valley has been an annual occurrence, on the heels of another Penn State defeat at the hands of Ohio State on Saturday afternoon.
The trend of falling in big games against the upper echelon of the conference continued with that setback, but quarterback Drew Allar believes the Nittany Lions are taking steps in the right direction to shake off the loss and continue marching forward into the latter stretch of the season.
"I mean, I think nobody wants to lose. We don't put in the amount of time that we put in to lose. So, you know, obviously it's super frustrating for us," Allar said on Wednesday morning. "I thought Sunday we came in and had a really good Sunday practice and flushed it. And then we moved on to Washington because we got a really good team coming into town this weekend."
The Nittany Lions' offensive attack, or lack thereof, was at the heart of Saturday's struggles, failing to reach the end zone and being under 300 total yards of offense for the first time all season. Allar struggled, to the tune of 12-20 passing for 146 yards and an interception in the loss.
Offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki had an honest conversation with his group after the game, saying both the coaches and players needed to be better for one another moving forward.
"It was a good message for us," Allar said. "I have full faith in Coach K, I love being a part of the offense that Coach K calls and really a part of the whole offensive staff."
Allar views the lack of getting off to a strong start on first down as a trickle down effect that hindered the offense on Saturday, resulting in tougher third down scenarios, of which the Nittany Lions converted just three of 11 on Saturday.
"Philosophically as an offense, I think one way to get everybody in rhythm and get, you know, everybody involved in the game is staying out of third and long and continuing to stay ahead of the sticks. And then that allows us to, you know, get in a rhythm, get our players the ball and then we'll be able to distribute the ball as well too," Allar said.
Finding a consistent rhythm has been a daunting task for Allar when it comes to his receivers, for the second straight year, leaning on tight end Tyler Warren and running back Nicholas Singleton in the pass game on Saturday. The Nittany Lions' receiving corps was held to just three catches for 49 yards, with the aforementioned Singleton and Warren having a combined ten receptions for 101 yards.