Penn State left Evanston with more than a loss Friday night. It left with a season suddenly looking like it’s on the edge.
Northwestern’s 34-13 win dropped the Nittany Lions to 0-2 in Big Ten play under head coach Matt Campbell, and the way it happened only sharpened the concern. Penn State never found any traction, got pushed around at the line of scrimmage and watched quarterback Rocco Becht throw a second interception into traffic late, ending any chance at a rally.
On the final Penn State drive, offensive lineman Cooper Cousins stood on the field with his hands on his hips, waiting to see the replay on the new Ryan Field scoreboard. He seemed to be hoping the ball had hit the ground.
It didn’t. The Northwestern defender came down with it, and the game was effectively over.
Afterward, Cousins was trying to make sense of a result nobody around the program expected when the season began.
“It’s on everybody, top down,” Cousins said. “He can say it’s on himself.
But being one offensive leader on this team, I put it on myself as well. Maybe I got to get up even earlier.
Maybe I got to get more guys with me in the morning. Maybe we got to come together as an offense on our own.
Maybe we got to start doing a little bit more.
“I think we’re in a good spot. I don’t think it’s anybody’s fault.
I think we have a great coaching staff. We have a great program that surrounds us, and I think we’re ready to go.
So I don’t think it’s really anybody’s fault. I don’t think it’s a leadership fault.
I think we just have to come in this next week and focus on our process, and we’ll be fine.”
That confidence is still there in the locker room. The results are not.
Penn State entered the year with a schedule that looked manageable enough to support a run at the playoff conversation in Campbell’s first season. That path has vanished quickly.
The loss to Wisconsin the previous week already hurt, especially after a 17-0 lead slipped away. Friday was worse.
There was no comeback, no spark, no sign the Nittany Lions could impose themselves on either side of the ball.
Campbell didn’t hide from it after the game.
“Those are all things that I wish I had the magic answer (for) right now, to be quite honest with you,” Campbell said postgame. “I think, like I said, the reality of tonight is they controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football.
And when you do that, it doesn't matter what league or what game it is, you really put yourself at a great advantage to dictate the pace of the game. And they did it from the start of the game to the finish of the game.
“And, again, we got to find great answers to get it fixed, and it starts with the head football coach. And we work really hard to have better answers than what I’m giving you right now.”
The quarterback play only added to the mess. Becht, who has started for Campbell for four straight years, has gone through rough patches before.
This one has been hard to ignore. Over the last two weeks, he has looked out of sync, hesitant and inaccurate.
Receivers were open often enough, but the ball rarely got there cleanly, and when it did, it didn’t always arrive where the pass-catchers could do much with it.
That raised the question of whether a change to backup Alex Manske might make sense, especially with the season trending in the wrong direction. Campbell wasn’t entertaining that idea.
“I think Rocco’s proven that he can work through a football game where it’s not perfect ...,” Campbell said. “And the fact of the matter of it is, Rocco’s a winner.
He’s won a lot of football games, and he’s had to work through really hard situations. And we’re kind of in one of those right now.
And so his leadership and his ability to navigate the rough waters right now will be, I think, a testament to him as we get ourselves out of it.”
The schedule doesn’t offer much relief. USC and its elite offense comes next in the White Out, followed by a road trip to Michigan, a team that is even more physical in the trenches than Northwestern. If Penn State keeps playing like this, those games could get ugly fast.
A 3-4 start is now in play, along with four straight Big Ten losses. That would be a worse opening than the one James Franklin had last season that got him fired.
There were signs of effort Friday. There were adjustments, including moving defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn from the booth to the sideline for the second half. None of it changed the outcome.
Penn State is still a talented team, just not as talented as many expected it to be. That may be the simplest explanation for the gap between the preseason optimism and the reality now in front of it.
The Nittany Lions can still claw their way to 8-4. There’s just not much reason to believe they will.
And if they don’t, the questions around this program are only going to get louder.
In Other News...
Penn State Fans Wont Like What An In-State Rival Coach Said
Pat Narduzzi had plenty to say after Pitts close win over Virginia Tech, and much of it was bound to land with Penn State fans as a familiar jab from across the state. The Pitt coach addressed a controversial missed field goal in that game, then turned his attention to the AP Top 25, questioning Penn States placement despite the recent losses that have piled up for the Nittany Lions.
Narduzzi also used the moment to make a case for his own program, pointing to Pitts undefeated start and current ranking as proof his team deserves more respect. It was the latest reminder that the tension between Pitt and Penn State remains very much alive, with Narduzzi continuing a public back-and-forth that has long carried extra weight in a rivalry shaped by him and former Penn State coach James Franklin. [Read more 🡒]
Penn States Early Big Ten Slide Suddenly Looks Like A Bigger Problem
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The Nittany Lions are not alone in that bind, but their position carries extra weight because expectations were so high before league play began. Washington is facing its own early trouble, and several coaching situations around the conference are already under a sharper spotlight, yet Penn States slide stands out because it changes the margin for error so quickly. If the league is going to earn the depth it needs at the top, the teams that were supposed to anchor it cannot keep giving ground this early. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Just Lost The Spotlight For A Huge Michigan Trip
Penn States trip to Michigan on October 17 no longer has the feel of a late-night showcase. The Big Ten announced the game at Michigan Stadium will kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET, pulling it out of the prime-time window many had anticipated and shifting some of the national spotlight away from what had shaped up as one of the leagues more intriguing midseason matchups.
It still carries plenty of weight in the Big Ten race, though. Both teams are 0-2 in conference play, which is the first time that has happened to Penn State since it joined the league in 1993, and that makes the meeting even more important for two programs trying to steady themselves. Before that trip, Penn State gets its own marquee stage Saturday night, hosting No. 19 USC in a White Out game at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCs Big Ten Saturday Night. [Read more 🡒]