Penn State’s Big Ten slate starts Saturday night in Beaver Stadium with Wisconsin coming to town, and the Nittany Lions will have to navigate it without their top pass catcher.
The No. 1 storyline for Penn State is Koby Howard, who leads the team with 12 catches for 344 yards. Head coach Matt Campbell said Howard will be out for “an extended period of time,” though the injury is not season-ending.
That leaves Penn State looking for answers on the outside and likely pushing more responsibility toward Chase Sowell, Brett Eskildsen and Zay Robinson. The Nittany Lions could also lean harder on tight ends Ben Brahmer and Gabe Burkle.
Penn State is 3-0 and enters the game as a double-digit favorite, but the injury list doesn’t stop with Howard. EDGE Max Granville and reserve offensive lineman Will Tompkins are done for the season. Center Brock Riker and tight end Andrew Rappleyea are both listed as questionable.
Wisconsin has a notable name on its own injury report. Running back Abu Sama III, who previously played for Campbell at Iowa State, is questionable but expected to play after sitting out the Badgers’ Week 3 game against Eastern Michigan.
Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. ET on Saturday, Sept.
- The game will air on NBC Sports Network and stream on Peacock.
DraftKings Sportsbook has Penn State favored by 10, with the over/under at 44.5.
The setting should match the stakes. It’s homecoming in Happy Valley, and it’s also the Helmet Stripe game, with most of Beaver Stadium wearing white and a small strip of blue cutting through the crowd.
Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell said Happy Valley is “no tougher place to play” in the Big Ten, and he added that the 5 p.m. kickoff should help make the night environment even louder.
For quarterback Rocco Becht, this is the toughest defense he’s faced so far. Wisconsin is viewed as a major jump from the defenses Penn State has seen against Marshall, Temple and Buffalo.
And this is only the start of a demanding run. After Wisconsin, Penn State heads to Northwestern for a Friday night road game, hosts USC in the White Out, and then goes on the road to Michigan.
In Other News...
Penn State Already Faces An Uncomfortable Question About Life After Franklin
Penn States stumble at Beaver Stadium against Wisconsin in Matt Campbells Big Ten debut as head coach put an immediate spotlight on what life looks like after James Franklin. Coaching changes are never clean, especially when a new leader is being asked to steady a program with expectations as high as Penn States. Campbell arrives with a reputation as a builder, the kind of coach who needs time to shape a team in his image rather than simply patching over what came before.
For the Nittany Lions, the uncomfortable part is not just that the transition has begun, but that recent results have already started to look more fragile than the standard Franklin set in earlier years. This is the part of a changeover that programs hope to avoid, when every loss turns into a referendum on the new era and every uneven performance invites comparisons to the old one. Penn State is only at the beginning of that process, but the pressure to show progress is already very real. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Has A Scheduling Problem Fans Cant Ignore
Penn State had plenty to feel good about when it took a 17-0 lead into halftime, but the second half against Wisconsin turned into a reminder that early control does not always mean a game is secure. The offense managed only a field goal after the break, while Wisconsin kept chipping away and eventually put up 24 points to flip the result. Matt Campbell acknowledged the missed opportunities afterward, and the loss fit a familiar pattern for a team that can look polished before the pressure really ramps up.
That is why the conversation around the Nittany Lions non-conference slate has become hard to ignore. An easier early schedule can help a team build confidence and stack wins, but it can also hide flaws that only show up once the calendar turns and the opponents get stronger. For Penn State, the concern is not just the loss itself, but whether the schedule has given a truer picture of what this team is before the tougher conference tests arrive. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State's Offense Hit A Troubling Low In Loss To Wisconsin
Penn States offense has had uneven stretches this season, but the loss to Wisconsin brought a new low in the grading as well as the scoreboard. Pro Football Focus gave the unit its worst mark of the year, while the defense, which held up far better, posted its second-highest grade of the season and had one of the days biggest bright spots in freshman Josiah Zayas.
Zayas finished with the top defensive grade on the team after returning an interception for a touchdown, a play that briefly gave Penn State some life. The other side of the ball told a harsher story, with quarterback Rocco Becht turning in a rough outing and several offensive linemen also drawing season-low grades, leaving the offense searching for answers after another frustrating night. [Read more 🡒]