Daryll Clark wore a gray, three-piece suit in a bold pattern, with shiny, silvery shoes.
The outfit was almost comically inappropriate to the mood.
Almost, but not quite.
Clark looked so, so sad.
A crowd of media people surrounded him, and somebody asked him to describe his feelings.
Bailing out on a question like that would be S.O.P. for a lot of guys. Just mumble something. Get through it.
It's not an option for Clark. That's just how he is.
He put his head in his hands and gathered himself for a long moment. He wasn't far from tears.
"First of all," he finally said, "I want to apologize to the whole Penn State nation. I take full responsibility for that loss."
Somebody asked if what had just happened had sunk in yet. We sportswriters are no more brilliant at these moments than anyone else.
"It hit me now, man," Clark said. "I'm hurting real bad."
Iowa 24, Penn State 23 means no more griping about the BCS formula in Happy Valley extended. It means scrapping plans to spend the first week of 2009 in Miami.
It means the regular-season finale, vs. Michigan State at Beaver Stadium in two weeks, could be for a Rose Bowl berth.
Remember when that was a gigantic deal? It isn't anymore.
Penn State is better than Iowa, but this happened the way a lot of upsets do in this sport. The Nittany Lions failed to fully cash in chances, settling for field goals three times in the first half after driving to the Iowa 14 yard-line or closer.
They let the Hawkeyes hang around, at their stadium, and pretty soon their fans started to believe and they themselves started to know that it was possible.
Still, even down the stretch, Iowa screwed up more than enough.
It roughed the punter — a shaky call, but why even give the ref the chance to make it? — when Penn State was punting into a vicious, freezing wind from its own 28, in the final quarter.
And a while before that Iowa fumbled a snap, giving Penn State the ball at the Iowa 28, and leading to another field goal.
But Penn State messed this one up. When it counted most, the defense couldn't get off the field. For the second straight game against a good defense, on the road, late in the year, Clark and the offense couldn't throw the ball down the field.
Clark completed just nine of 23 passes, for just 86 yards. Erstwhile leading receiver Jordan Norwood dropped two and caught zero. Penn State's biggest pass play, a 23-yarder, was thrown by Derrick Williams.
Even if the Lions had escaped this, they probably aren't a national championship team.
But Clark could have won it. The quarterback gets all the glory and the scrutiny for a reason.
After the roughing-the-punter call, Clark had Williams open over the middle on a third-and long play in Iowa territory with 3:46 left. If he hits him, maybe it's a first down. If not, they're in field goal range, and a field goal probably wins it.
But Clark badly overthrew Williams, the ball sailing as it seemingly often has for him lately, into the arms of Iowa safety Tyler Sash.
"It all comes down to one play," Clark said. "I can't get it out of my mind."
People will say the concussion Clark suffered two weeks ago, or the concussion coupled with a bye week last week, had something to do with this. Who knows?
"I felt fine," Clark said. "I felt really ready to play today, but this was one of my worst performances ever."
No one should feel too sorry for Clark, of course. Life does go on.
"Do something," was Clark's advice for himself. "Do something that doesn't have you sitting in your room all day, so you don't fall into a deeper depression."
So no pity, then. But would you trade your Sunday — this Sunday, today — for his?
Mike Gross is assistant sports editor of the Sunday News. You can e-mail him at mgross@lnpnews.com.
