Penn State is trying to treat Saturday’s loss to Wisconsin as a reset point, not a spiral.
That’s the clearest takeaway from offensive tackle Anthony Donkoh, who said Wednesday that the Nittany Lions have handled this setback far differently than they did a year ago, when the season unraveled into six straight losses and a coaching change.
“I feel like a lot of the guys handled it well this time around,” Donkoh said Wednesday. “I feel like there’s a lot more emotions last year, and you just felt a big negative shift after a game sometimes. After this loss, everybody is still in good spirits.”
The change, Donkoh said, starts with Matt Campbell. Saturday marked Campbell’s first real stretch of adversity at Penn State, and the way he responded helped steer the team back toward the next task instead of dwelling on what went wrong.
Campbell has leaned into his belief in the program, from the staff to the players to the process. He also reminded the team that “every opportunity is a chance to grow.”
“He’s having us change our focus to this game that we have and not brushing past what we did wrong in the game,” Donkoh said. “To be able to get our focus changed onto this week, he did a really good job on helping us do that.”
That matters even more with Northwestern coming up Friday, because Penn State is on a short week and didn’t have much time to sit with the Wisconsin result. The Nittany Lions were favored to win that game, but Donkoh said the response inside the building stayed measured.
“It wasn’t negative,” Donkoh said. “A lot of guys were just coming in and knowing we have stuff that we have to improve on.
We know we have a long season ahead. If we’re gonna have this hold us down, we’re just gonna keep having one monster into another monster.”
Donkoh’s role in that response has been especially important. As a captain through the first four games, he’s one of the voices the rest of the team leans on, and he said that means keeping himself steady first.
“It's also like one of those things that I definitely have to lead by example,” Donkoh said. “I can't do stupid stuff all the time. I got to be able to have my head clear and focus on things.”
Penn State’s message this week has been simple: fix the mistakes, move on, and carry a positive mindset into Northwestern. Campbell’s six-second mentality has taken hold in the room, and Donkoh said that shift has helped the group keep its balance after a loss that could have sent things sideways.
“It’s nice to be able to have that focus,” Donkoh said. “Not being so negative all the time and being able to change our focus so everybody has a positive mindset.”
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