It has been a rocky road for the 3-3  Nittany Lions football team, and it has plenty of Penn State football fans feeling like this little kid. The squad has this weekend off and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Injuries have plagued the Nittany Lions like nothing in the recent past. Starting with Curtis Drake’s probable season-ending pre-season injury and ending with Nick Sukay’s torn pectoral muscle, which also claimed his season, the injuries have piled up. Hopefully for the Nittany Lions, this bye week will allow some of the other bumps and bruises to heal.

• DE Jack Crawford is tending to a foot injury
• S Andrew Dailey is still recovering from a serious stinger he received during Illinois’ 33-13 drumming
• LB Bani Gbadyu has a bum knee
• DT Jordan Hill rolled his ankle and still walks with a slight limp
• LB Gerald Hodges could return from his broken leg by next week
• LB Michael Mauti is nearly healed from a sprained ankle
• OT Lou Eliades is out for the season with a torn ACL
• TE Gary Gilliam also suffered a season-ending ACL tear
• DE Eric Lattimore has a broken wrist and will miss a couple weeks
• TE Andrew Sczerba has been battling a back injury for over a year

Besides the laundry list of injuries, Penn State’s play has simply been stale and many are pointing to a lack of leadership as the cause. Whatever it is, Penn State players went through a tough week of practice this week, and one can only assume the intensity will increase next week before Minnesota.

The glaring weakness of this team has been across the offensive and defensive lines. Injury depleted, the lines have been dominated on the line of scrimmage this year–barely able to run the ball, or stop the run.

“We’re not going to lay on our backs and go 0 and whatever. We are going to go to every game and keep fighting like we have something to prove,” said captain Ollie Ogbu after the loss to Illinois.

“When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. Who is going to be tough?” captain Brett Brackett asked to his teammates.