Nittany Nation Suffers Heartbreak: 38-24 Hurts

I woke up this morning with a complete and utter heartache. I hurt. All over. I hung my head in a state of mild depression because for the first time since 2003, I knew my Penn State football season was over...closed out with a loss. Granted, it was against USC. But still, the last game of my senior year at Penn State ended harshly. In the grand daddy of them all. It wasn't even so much that the Trojans were over-powering the Lions, exactly. It was a direct result of the stupid mistakes including dumb penalties, arm-tackling, and poor offensive play calling. USC looked good. Real good. But I still can't help but think things could have been much different had Penn State NOT: 1) Been flagged for offsides, bringing back a huge fumble recovery for the defense 2) Suffered holding penalties on the offense, bringing back successful offensive plays 3) Taken their good old time in the third quarter, despite being down 24 points, and continually rushing the ball even after success through the air ... (link)