Penn State’s bye week did more than just pause the schedule. It gave the Nittany Lions a reset, and the difference has shown up across the roster as they’ve won two straight, knocked off Purdue and Washington, and moved within one win of bowl eligibility.
The biggest change has come up front. Penn State spent much of 2026 searching for a run game, and the offensive line was a big reason why. The group had been pieced together with new starters at left tackle Malachi Goodman, left guard Trevor Buhr, center Brock Riker and right guard Cooper Cousins, while Anthony Donkoh shifted to right tackle after starting at right guard last season.
Since the bye week, though, the ground game has looked far more functional. Penn State has averaged 5 yards per carry over that stretch, which is twice what it managed in the first four Big Ten games.
“You've got five guys that are playing together on that offensive line for the first time,” Penn State coach Matt Campbell said. “I think that was trying to get the cohesion and unification of that group, and then you had guys playing injured for a while in that group.”
Campbell said the bye gave the line a chance to get healthier and trim down the offense so it could execute better. Riker, though he never missed a game, didn’t play most of the Buffalo game because of injury. Goodman also missed the second half of the Washington game.
That’s where Garrett Sexton came in. The backup left tackle replaced Goodman and helped Penn State finish the job on the final drive against Washington, when the Nittany Lions held the ball for the last 7:40 and Carson Hansen ripped off a 36-yard run.
“To watch Garrett go in, honestly the big block that happens at Carson's run at the end of the game is because of Garrett Sexton,” Campbell said. “I think both those guys, for Garrett being a young player that’s growing, and Malachi being a very young player that’s growing, I thought it was a really huge step forward for both those guys on Saturday.”
The backfield has also changed shape since the bye. Before that break, Penn State hadn’t found a runner who could separate from the pack. Hansen and Cam Wallace changed that in a hurry.
After Wallace’s 135-yard breakout against Purdue, the Nittany Lions had their first Big Ten rusher over 100 yards. Then Hansen followed with 119 yards against Washington, giving Penn State a back-to-back surge on the ground.
“[I’ve] really challenged those guys for a long time, the whole running back room, to be able to have somebody go and draw a line in the sand and say that, ‘I’m going to be the guy, or we’re going to be the guy,’” offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser said after the Purdue game, when Hansen and Wallace combined for 231 rushing yards. “Those guys did a great job over the bye week of doing that, and leaving no doubt.”
Defensively, Ibn McDaniels has emerged as another player who has made the most of the break. He wasn’t a major part of the secondary before the bye, but his role has grown, and he played 16 snaps against Washington. He also came up with a key interception of Demond Williams Jr. in the fourth quarter.
That play mattered. Campbell said McDaniels has been “as good as anybody the last two weeks,” and if Washington had gotten one more possession, the game could have swung the other way late. McDaniels’ pick may have prevented that.
His progress has also helped starters Audavion Collins and Daryus Dixson get more rest during games.
“I’m happy for him,” safety Jamison Patton said. “It’s long overdue.
He’s been doing great at practice and really all throughout camp. He’s just been growing and getting better each and every week.
It’s been really cool to see that.”
Rocco Becht has also looked sharper since the bye, which matters after a rough start to Big Ten play. He threw two interceptions in the loss at Northwestern and then committed three costly turnovers at Michigan in a 21-18 defeat before the break.
Since then, he’s completed 62.7 percent of his passes for 415 yards and three touchdowns. He also delivered a well-placed deep ball to Chase Sowell against Washington, and he has not turned it over since the Michigan game.
“I feel like the confidence is starting to kind of bleed over into the offense,” Sowell said. “You can feel the energy and the confidence that he’s playing with on the field. He’s building the confidence through making stuff simple for him, and then at the same time, just being decisive.”
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