ALTOONA, Pa. -- It's no secret Penn State is struggling on the field as the Nittany Lions are off to an 0-3 start for only the fourth time in 80 years.
Winning conceals flaws a team might have, while losing unmasks every flaw, fracture and issue imaginable. And while it's troubling for a team of Penn State's caliber to be so bad this early in the season, those fractures have been magnified by not just the Nittany Lions losing, but how they've lost.
"If it was one thing and I could put my finger on it then it would be an easy solution. It's complicated and it's layered," head coach James Franklin said during his weekly press conference Tuesday.
Penn State lost in overtime at Indiana, now a top-10 team, and to No. 3 Ohio State at home, despite making it a game in the second half before getting embarrassed against Maryland.
"We've kind of lost three different ways and, in years past, we've found ways to win games," Franklin said following Saturday's loss.
Under Franklin, the Nittany Lions have preached the familial aspect of the program, hosting parties and bowling events for the team to build camaraderie, something missing right now. And that lack of a team aspect is what's truly alarming for a program predicated on the team-first mentality.
"We're not as one right now. We're not a unit right now," junior wide receiver Jahan Dotson said. "There are distractions that we shouldn't be focused on right now. We've got to be focused on getting in the win column. Nothing else."
With issues stemming from society's racial tensions, the recent election and the pandemic, opportunities to be distracted and withdrawn from the task at hand are at an all-time high. Players and coaches have been in pseudo-lockdown since arriving on campus and have been subjected to testing every day since the regular season began.
As a result of the lockdown, many players and coaches haven't seen their families for an extended period of time. That includes Franklin, whose family is spending the season at their home in Florida. Franklin's 12-year old daughter has sickle cell disease and until there's a vaccine, he will be forced to be away from her and the rest of his family.
"I have not done a great job of managing my family being gone," Franklin said. "They're my fuel."
Penn State is far from the only program experiencing these issues, but it's possible the Nittany Lions are feeling the effects just a little more than most at this point. "Right now, we have a lot of individuals," Dotson said. "A lot of guys thinking about things they shouldn't be thinking about."
To judge other humans for what they're experiencing is unfair, but it does bring to light the human aspect of the game of football. In fact, it might be the most important aspect of the game. Regardless, Penn State has more than struggled with everything it has gone through so far, and the end might not be in sight.
"We're not a good football team right now," Dotson said. "We've got to have everyone 100 percent bought-in and we've got to work ... we've got to see every guy in the (football) building, just doing something to get better every single day. That's where it's going to start."
At 0-3 and facing an 0-2 Nebraska, it would be easy to throw in the towel on the season, but there isn't a team remaining on the schedule that has a winning record. Not even Michigan.
"There's no room to just hold our hands," defensive end Jayson Oweh said. "We've still got a few games to go to try and make it to a bowl game, just try to be more successful than where we are now."
To do that, Penn State is going to have to get back to the basics, which is something that's been non-existent this season. A lack of fundamentals and discipline have added insult to injury, in more ways than one.
"It's the little things. We've got to do every little thing right and we're not doing that," quarterback Sean Clifford said. "It's all across the board. It starts with me. It's unacceptable to ourselves, to the program, to the coaches, to the fans. Unacceptable. We've got to figure this out."
It all starts in the locker room with leaders such as Clifford and Dotson, as well as captain Jesse Luketa, leading the way as the Nittany Lions navigate through uncharted waters.
"Everybody in this locker room is here for a reason. We're all we got," Luketa said. "We need to have those tough conversations moving forward and address what we need to do to get back on track. That's the biggest point of emphasis now to spread throughout the locker room. Outside noise, it's irrelevant."
With each game, missed play or busted opportunity, that outside noise gets louder and louder. With a team that's seemingly divided, it's possible it could get much worse before it gets better if the players inside the locker room let it happen.
"We've got to have everyone 100 percent bought-in," Dotson said. "We're going to see who really wants it. Who wants to be here, bought in. And if you don't, there's not time for that. We're 0-3. It's time to turn the season around, and we've got to do something different."
Still needing players to buy-in four weeks into the season is far from ideal, but it's imperative that should the Nittany Lions want to find the win column, they'll need it from everybody.
"We talk about the extra buy-in and we talk about being better, and we talk about what type of football team we are," Clifford said. "I mean, it's very apparent of what type of football team we are. We're an 0-3 poor-performing football team currently, and we need to change."
To change, there must be trust and with a team loaded with younger talent and only 10 seniors, it's not always easy to earn that trust. At least right away. "I feel like we all just have to trust each other, you know, just playing within the framework, play as a unit," Oweh said. "I feel like we're all just trying to just make plays on our own. And once we start playing as a unit and, really start trusting each other because in practice, we play hard and we play together, you trust each other as a unit. And once we translate that into the game, we'll be fine."
The potential has always been there with this team, as Penn State began the season ranked No. 8 in the country. That shows how good the Nittany Lions could be if things had turned out differently early in the season. It's no surprise the 0-3 start has been hard on the players and coaches, as they search for answers as to why it's been so bad, so often.
"There's a lot of emotions. but we're a brotherhood, we're a family. Coach Franklin loves us, we love him," Oweh said. "The locker room is tough, But, you know, we've been through a lot of adversity, especially in this year. So we're going to get through it."
With six games left, there's still plenty of time to get the season turned around, and it's going to come down to the effectiveness of the leaders for the Nittany Lions.
"The leadership is there," Oweh said. "It's just we all got to do our job and do it the right way."
