Penn State quarterback Anthony Morelli continued to regress from a strong first half last week against Akron. Against the Irish, Morelli was 21 of 33 for 189 yards, a touchdown, an interception and a fumble on an option play gone woefully bad.

Morelli never looked comfortable on the play, losing the ball after getting sandwiched between two defenders. Notre Dame safety Tom Zbikowski picked it up and ran 25 yards the other way for a touchdown in the first half.

“They outplayed us,” coach Joe Paterno said. “We made too many mistakes. We were sloppy.”

Perhaps just as disturbing, Penn State now hasn’t beaten a ranked opponent on the road in nearly four years. The last time it happened was Oct. 5, 2002 at Wisconsin.

“We dropped a couple passes and missed some tackles and just made mistakes that are easily fixable,” linebacker Paul Posluszny said. “The thing about this loss is that we did so many things that helped them out. We made a lot of simple mistakes that we normally don’t make but this loss won’t be hard to put behind us.”

Irish quarterback Brady Quinn threw for 287 yards and three touchdowns while not focusing on any one receiver. Four different players caught at least five passes for 50 yards, while three of the four caught touchdowns.

With the convincing win, Notre Dame takes a 9-8-1 series advantage to State College next year when the two teams meet again. Saturday was the first time the two teams had played in 13 years.

“This wasn't the best day for Penn State football” receiver Derrick Williams said. “It's very tough. But everybody's going to lose someday. The biggest thing is what are you going to do after a loss? How is the team going to take it? I think we're going to take it a positive way and build on this and have a positive season.”

GAME BALL GOES TO: LB Dan Connor –- Led Penn State’s defense in tackles (12, sharing the lead this week) for the second week in a row, but it wasn’t even close to enough to slow the Notre Dame express. Paul Posluszny also had 12 tackles.

KEEP AN EYE ON: WR Jordan Norwood –- Led the receivers with six catches for 91 yards one week after catching his first touchdown pass against Akron. In two games, he has 13 catches for 152 yards. There is no question Penn State has talent at receiver, now the Lions just have to get the ball.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “I went out in this thing with the idea this would be a good experience for the young guys. Regardless of what the outcome would be, I think we'd be a better football team for it. Obviously, I hoped we would play better than we played.” –- Penn State coach Joe Paterno after the loss at Notre Dam

STILL NEEDS WORK: Plenty. LB Paul Posluszny appeared to be just a little bit slower, although coach Joe Paterno blamed it on the amount of time Penn State’s defense spent on the field.

QB Anthony Morelli -- He continues to regress from a solid first half against Akron last week, while the defense and special teams failed to capitalize on Irish mistakes.

The defense -- PSU dropped sure interceptions on Notre Dame’s first two scoring drives and the special teams couldn’t recover Tom Zbikowski’s fumbled punt in the second quarter. From there, it was all Irish.

ROSTER REPORT: FB BranDon Snow, suspended last week, played on special teams and at fullback, but did not start.