No matter what sport you’re playing, losing stinks. The longer you ruminate on a loss, though, the more it sinks into your psyche.

That’s why athletes, coaches, and media heads talk so much about turning the page: the inability to do so lets the loss linger as a feeling of failure.

Fortunately for Penn State, it has a rare short week and a Friday night game in Chicago against Northwestern, the perfect opportunity to put Saturday’s loss in the rearview.

“Yeah, for sure,” offensive lineman Trevor Buhr said Tuesday when asked if the short week could be good for the team. “I think us just being able to get back out there and start working again, being able to occupy our minds with this next week, I just think that was really the best-case scenario for us moving forward.”

Blowing a game the way the Nittany Lions did on Saturday is more of a mental challenge than anything, especially in a sport that provides so many distractions.

Being able to go back to work and focus on Friday, however, might be just what Penn State needs.

“We had to talk about [the loss] on Sunday, and then we had to get ready to go here on Friday,” linebacker Alex Tatsch said. “We can’t dwell on it; we didn’t dwell on it, and were just doing our best to prepare for this coming game.”

Penn State quarterback Rocco Becht added that he and a lot of the team were ready to get right back to work after the loss. They just wanted to move on.

Becht also mentioned a players-only meeting after the loss that aimed to keep everyone’s head on straight and emphasize that the team’s goals are still on the table.

“Overall, we were just making sure we were all on the same page,” Buhr said. “Going over what we had to do, what our goals for getting ready for this week were, just making sure everyone’s on the same page, I’d say that was the purpose of the meeting.”

The fact that Friday’s game is shaping up to be a much bigger deal than the usual trip to meet the Wildcats may also help the Nittany Lions.

The debut of the New Ryan Field on Friday night is getting a lot of national attention, with the near-billion-dollar stadium promising a much better atmosphere than past incarnations.

Becht emphasized that the team is embracing the challenge, rather than worrying about it, and that he personally is looking forward to experiencing the stadium.

“I’m actually really excited to see what it’s like, this brand new stadium,” defensive lineman Keanu Williams said. “We’re really embracing the fact of opening the new stadium. We’re going out there to compete. We’re going out there to send a message, as always.”

If you believe in the concept of a swing game in the middle of a college football season, this is a big one.

The team can’t afford to look ahead, but it’s hard to ignore the looming White Out against USC and the biggest road trip of the year to the Big House in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

A season-crippling four-game losing streak will loom large if Penn State fails to play spoiler on Friday, but if it can do it, it’s a big road win to renew confidence in the group.

The mindset difference is immense.

“You can’t be negative in this sport,” offensive lineman Anthony Donkoh said. “You always have to have that six-second mentality and move forward.”