After the Orange Bowl, the Nittany Lions were asked to reflect on a 13-3 season. “Can’t quite answer that right now.”

MIAMI GARDENS | Ja’Juan Seider, Penn State’s running backs coach, looked around the Penn State football locker room late Thursday night and wanted to hug it. Every player, every person in there. He wanted to absorb their hurt.

“It sucks, because only one team advances, and it ain’t you,” Seider said after the Nittany Lions’ 27-24 loss to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl. “It’s hard to put into words. You appreciate the opportunity of being here, but it don’t mean anything if you don’t finish. So kudos to Notre Dame, they played well. They finished at the end, and we didn’t.”

Words were fleeting in Penn State’s locker room at Hard Rock Stadium, where the Nittany Lions tried to process the end of the longest, winningest football season in school history. After 16 games and 13 wins, they weren’t there yet Thursday night.

‘It’s just heartbreaking’

In a small room attached to the locker room, several Penn State players conducted interviews separate from their teammates. Among them was defensive tackle DVon J-Thomas, who played his last game for Penn State.

“It feels awful to come so close to accomplishing the things we set out to do early on in the season. It’s just heartbreaking,” Thomas said. “It’s just terrible. You sacrifice so much, you go through so much and to come up short, especially being so close, it’s just heartbreaking.”

Dani Dennis-Sutton’s emotional finish

Dennis-Sutton played one of his best games at Penn State, inflicting havoc on Notre Dame’s offense with two sacks, a forced fumble (that Penn State couldn’t recover) and a remarkably athletic interception. He was among the players who visibly took the loss the hardest.

“You know when it hit me?” Thomas said. “When I dapped up that kid right there. Dani Dennis-Sutton. He’s just an incredible person, an incredible player. He’s grown and developed so much. I’ve been playing with Dani since he was a freshman in high school [at Maryland’s McDonogh School], and to see him come so far, to play as hard as he did today, it’s just incredible. I thanked him, he thanked me. It definitely hit me pretty hard.”

Dennis-Sutton, meanwhile, wanted to defend his quarterback. Drew Allar had a tough night punctuated by a fourth-quarter interception that Notre Dame turned into the game-winning field goal.

“He didn’t lose us this game,” Dennis-Sutton said. “The defense allowed way too many points. If we don’t allow them to get 24 points and score on that last drive, Drew wouldn’t be in that position.”

The offensive coordinator lifts Allar as well

As the door to Penn State’s locker room opened, offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki stood sentry. He absorbed a group of reporters, hoping to shield the players from them and to be the first to assume responsibility. The first player he stood up for was Allar, about whom he fought a quiver in his voice discussing.

“That’s tough because he’s going to put that on himself and he shouldn’t have to,” Kotelnicki said. “I’ve got to be better for him and our offense. … I simply say to him, it ain’t you. It’s not on you. You don’t need to take that on your shoulders and feel the blame for that. We will win and we will lose as a group. … I said I love you because I do.”

“Your heart just breaks for Cam,” Tom Allen says

Cornerback Cam Miller sat alone at his locker, silent and still, as teammates briefly paused for a word or hug. Miller lost his footing on one coverage play, which led to Notre Dame receiver Jaden Greathouse having a free release for a 54-yard touchdown reception that tied the game with 4:38 remaining. As Kotelnicki lifted his quarterback, so too did defensive coordinator Tom Allen with his cornerback.

“Your heart just breaks for Cam, because you know he’s just beating himself up,” Allen said. “Cam’s an amazing person and great player and does everything right. I just got done talking to him, and I told him, ‘One play doesn’t define you, doesn’t define the game.’ The bottom line is, he’s an unbelievable player and great guy. He’s such a detailed player. It’s going to be tough for him.”

Getting over “the hump”

Seider addressed the elephant in the locker room, which certainly made its way through the national conversation about Penn State coach James Franklin and big games.

“I think the first part is getting over the hump and winning these types of games,” Seider said. “We need to finish at the end. We were so close. We said we can’t let bad ball beat us, and it caught up to us at the end.”

Too soon

Center Nick Dawkins was filling his equipment bag with pads and gear when he was asked how he wanted to remember this scene.

“No matter what I say, you’ll never understand the brotherhood we have and the fellowship that we shared and the sacrifices that we made to be together and to play football for Penn State,” Dawkins said. “Any words I say will not do justice to that.”

He wasn’t alone. Asked what he’ll take from the season, safety Jaylen Reed said, “Can’t quite answer that right now. My mind’s on a lot of things right now. One thing I will take away from this is just the brotherhood we have here. I never take it for granted. When it’s your last football game on a team, it hits different.”

Added Thomas, “That will come later down the line. But right now I’m just stuck on Notre Dame, I guess.”

So the coaches attempted to contextualize the season for them.

“Everyone in here appreciates how they’ve gone about their business,” Kotelnicki said. “They really have committed themselves to a growth mindset and improving daily. That’s hard to do, and I want them to know that that’s appreciated. It’s unique to see.”

Asked what he wanted the players to know, Allen said, “That the team made history and they were part of a special, special group. It’s easy to lose sight of that right now. No one wants to hear that right now. There’s a lot of hurting guys in this locker room, and rightly so. But I want them to be remembered as one of the best defenses in the country and one of the best defenses in Penn State history. They gave it all to the final whistle.”