The mood inside the Penn State locker room at Hard Rock Stadium the night of Jan. 9 was sullen.

The wounds were fresh and the emotions raw.

It was too soon to examine the 27-24 loss to Notre Dame in a College Football Playoff semifinal and what was next for many of them.

That changed in the next few days when Zakee Wheatley, Zane Durant, Dominic DeLuca, Nick Singleton, Kaytron Allen, Dani Dennis-Sutton and Nick Dawkins announced they would return for one last ride rather than turn pro.

Their announcement came a few weeks after Drew Allar’s decision to come back.

With all that returning talent, the Nittany Lions have spent the days and nights since that devastating loss in South Florida preparing to make another championship run. They have unfinished business.

“It is not the idea of p

See Full Page