STATE COLLEGE — Minutes after Penn State suffered its worst loss in three years, Paul Posluszny was trying to look ahead.

There wasn't much for the All-American linebacker to dwell on after the Fighting Irish routed the Nittany Lions.

Mistakes piled up and snowballed. Turnovers proved costly. Notre Dame's offense ran up points against a Penn State defense employing seven different starters from last season.

"The thing about this loss is that we did so many things that helped them out," Posluszny said following Saturday's 41-17 defeat. "We made a lot of simple mistakes that we normally don't make, but this loss won't be hard to put behind us."

AP Top 25 poll voters dropped the Nittany Lions six spots to No. 25 in the poll released Sunday. It was Penn State's worst loss since a 41-10 defeat at Michigan State on Nov. 22, 2003.

Coach Joe Paterno now must ready his team for Division I-AA Youngstown State on Saturday at Beaver Stadium before preparing for another tough road contest the following week at top-ranked Ohio State.

"That's my job," Paterno said. "Go home, go to work, keep our heads up, keep our mouths shut. Let's see if we can get better."

The Nittany Lions haven't beaten a ranked opponent on the road since a 34-31 win at No. 19 Wisconsin on Oct. 5, 2002.

Notre Dame's Heisman hopeful, quarterback Brady Quinn, was 12-of-16 passing for 150 yards and two touchdowns in the second quarter alone. The Irish scored on all six of their red-zone chances in the game.