Gregory Shamus, tty Images Penn State quarterback Anthony Morelli was one of 12 Nittany Lions who made just their second starts in Saturday's loss at Notre Dame. Next Opponent What: Youngstown State at Penn State. When: 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Where: Beaver Stadium, University Park, Pa. TV/Radio: ESPNU/WEAE-AM (1250). The skinny: A non-conference game against a Division I-AA team. Related coverage Slideshow: Penn State vs. Notre Dame

Experienced teams don't make numerous careless mistakes.

And, when presented with opportunities, they capitalize on the miscues of their opponents.

Inexperienced football teams tend to make more mistakes and are often incapable of overcoming their own misfortune.

Such was the difference between Penn State and Notre Dame Saturday. The Fighting Irish are not blessed with more talent than the Nittany Lions, but with second-and third-year players starting at almost every position they clearly had an advantage over Penn State's many rookie starters who struggled with being in a big-game atmosphere for the first time.

Penn State made a year's worth of mistakes in the first half alone against Notre Dame, and the Fighting Irish more than happily took the opportunity to lay the wood to the Lions, 41-17.

"You're going to get that in the first away game on a team that's so young," said receiver Deon Butler, one of only four returning starters on offense. "We just have to be able to bounce back from it. We have to stay together. We have to look ahead of us."

For a game that got so out of hand, it was not all gloom and doom in the Penn State locker room afterward. Penn State coach Joe Paterno has been around long enough to understand that young teams need time to mature before talent can blossom.

On Saturday, Paterno had seven players on offense and five on defense making the second start in their careers. Contrast that to Notre Dame, which had seasoned players at almost every spot on the field.

"I went into this thing with the idea that this would be a good experience for the young guys," Paterno said. "Regardless of what the outcome would be, I thought we would be a better team for it. Obviously, I hoped we would play better than we did.

"I think there are some pluses on it. I think a bunch of young kids got out there. ... The offensive line did well. Once or twice a couple of young guys fell asleep."

More like a half-dozen times some young guys fell asleep. Jason Ganter mishandled a snap on a field goal, Anthony Scirrotto and Nolan McReady dropped interceptions, and Anthony Morelli turned the ball over twice on ill-advised plays, the first a fumble on an option play and the second an up-for-grabs interception.

"We felt like it was our own fault rather than them outplaying us," sophomore receiver Jordan Norwood said.

Even the veterans made some miscues. Tony Hunt fumbled in Notre Dame's end of the field.

Paul Posluszny, the team captain and All-American linebacker, said the volume of mistakes makes the game easier to forget. The rationale is that, in one game, the Lions got a season's worth of mistakes out of their system.

"The thing about this loss is there were so many times we could have helped ourselves out and we didn't," Posluszny said. "There are things that are so easily fixable, things we don't normally do. Today we made some mistakes we don't normally make. This isn't going to be hard to put behind us.

"It's going to make us tougher. We're going to learn from the mistakes and we'll be a better team."

What's to learn?

Let's start with these points:

The importance of red zone offense. The Lions failed to come away with points on their first drive after the botched field-goal attempt. Tying the score early would have given this young team confidence.

Protecting the football. Three turnovers led to 17 Notre Dame points.

Poor decision-making. Morelli played well, but made two crucial mistakes. He decided to pitch on the option (resulting in a turnover) and he threw into double coverage on an interception. Some of the blame has to put on the coaches, too. The coaching staff can make things easier on Morelli by putting him in better positions to succeed.

Penn State players won't have to wait long to redeem themselves. The Lions, who remain among the most talented teams in the Big Ten, play host to Division I-AA Youngstown State this week with No. 1 Ohio State the following week in Columbus.

"I think you learn a lot from games like this," Norwood said. "That's what you need to do from such a big loss, take something away from it. We'll get in there on Monday, watch the film and see what that is."