Penn State’s defense walked out of Saturday’s opener with a clean sheet, and the performance should have Temple paying attention.
Marshall quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson came in with some heat - he had been named Sun Belt Conference Preseason Offensive Player of the Year after accounting for 23 touchdowns passing and rushing in 2025 - but the Nittany Lions held him in check in a 45-0 win at Beaver Stadium. Del Rio-Wilson finished with 132 total yards, including only 30 on the ground.
Penn State head coach Matt Campbell pointed to the way his defense handled the money downs.
“We got to third down and got off the field, and I thought we did some really good things there, as well,” Penn State head coach Matt Campbell said on Saturday when asked about the Lions’ defensive effort against Del Rio-Wilson.
That kind of showing sets up an interesting test for Temple on Saturday, when Penn State visits Philadelphia. The Owls are expected to use two quarterbacks, and one of them has a familiar face for the Lions: former Penn State quarterback Jaxon Smolik.
Smolik, now a junior, split time with Ajani Sheppard in Temple’s 38-14 win over Rhode Island on Saturday. Smolik gave the Owls an early jolt by throwing an 18-yard touchdown pass to Jayce Freeman for a 7-0 first-quarter lead.
He finished 4 of 6 for 57 yards and was credited with four rushing attempts for minus-2 yards.
Sheppard handled the rest of the passing work, completing 5 of 10 throws for 85 yards and adding 23 rushing yards. Temple’s offense, though, was driven by the ground game, which piled up 227 yards and two touchdowns.
Smolik’s path to this matchup has been a long one. He spent three seasons at Penn State, redshirted in 2023, missed the 2024 season because of an undisclosed injury, and appeared in three games for the Lions last season.
In Other News...
Penn States Backfield Suddenly Has An Early-Season Question
Penn State opened the season with a 45-0 win over Marshall, but the shutout did not erase the first real hint of concern on offense. The Nittany Lions are trying to mesh four new starters along the offensive line, and the early read was that the group did not consistently create the kind of push needed to get the run game rolling.
That matters because the backfield is also in transition, with several new running backs joining the mix, including transfers James Peoples and Ben Brahmer. The talent is there, but the pieces are still learning how to work together, and it may take some time before the rushing attack settles into the kind of rhythm Penn State will want as the schedule stiffens. [Read more 🡒]
Rocco Bechts Penn State Debut Answered One Huge Question
Rocco Becht wasted little time settling the biggest offseason question around Penn States offense, and he did it in a way that should leave the Nittany Lions feeling better about their quarterback room than they have in a while. In his first game in a Penn State uniform, Becht was sharp from the start against Marshall, completing 13 of 18 passes for 271 yards and four touchdowns while avoiding turnovers in a lopsided Week 1 win to open the 2026 season.
The performance also pushed Bechts winning record as a starter to 27, a number that only adds to the confidence he brings into the job. Penn State was able to lean on its depth in the second half too, with backups Alex Manske and Connor Barry getting work, but the bigger takeaway was the ease with which Becht handled the stage and the questions that came with it. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Just Reopened Its Most Divisive Legacy Debate
The renovated Beaver Stadium has quietly added a detail that longtime Penn State fans are likely to notice right away: the sign for section 409 now carries an inverted color scheme, a subtle nod to Joe Paternos 409 career wins. It is the kind of small stadium touch that says a lot without saying much, and it fits into a broader shift around the program as it continues to reconsider how openly it wants to lean into Paternos place in school history.
Under head coach Matt Campbell, Penn State has been moving back toward a more public acknowledgment of Paterno after years of distance in the wake of the Sandusky scandal. The sign change has already reopened an old and unavoidable debate about how the program should remember one of its most important figures, balancing his on-field accomplishments against the unresolved discomfort that still surrounds his legacy. [Read more 🡒]