PHILADELPHIA - Penn State left Lincoln Financial Field with a 27-9 win over Temple, but the offensive mood afterward didn’t match the final score.
Carson Hansen, the Nittany Lions’ starting running back, didn’t try to dress up what happened early. Penn State opened the game with three scoreless drives, even while reaching the red zone twice, and the run game never really found a clean rhythm in the first half.
“We know we can be better at the start of the game,” Hansen said. “It was kind of a frustrating start.
But you got to battle through adversity, and you just got to keep on your p’s and q’s and really just keep running it. And we still got to figure out some stuff in the run game, some little details, especially myself.”
That was the theme of the day for a Penn State offense that has talent, but not nearly enough consistency yet. Hansen finished with 19 carries for 84 yards, a solid 4-plus yards per attempt, and the offense scored three touchdowns overall. Still, the mistakes kept stacking up: missed chances in the red zone, penalties at bad moments and runs that never quite hit as designed.
Head coach Matt Campbell didn’t bother searching for a softer explanation.
“I don’t think there’s any explanation other than we didn’t play very well,” Campbell said after the game. “We didn’t play very well in the first half or the first quarter of the game offensively. I think you go back and you look at those three runs down in the red zone, they’re all there.
“The first one, it’s a bad run. The second one we get beat on the inside, and then the third one, we get beat at guard, we’re off by an inch.
But it’s a game of inches, and especially when you’re playing on the road, you have to have great execution, and we didn’t do it. ... And so, where does that start?
I think it has to start as the head football coach. Our detail.
And then it goes to our coaches and then our players.”
Even with the uneven start, Penn State’s offense still has pieces that suggest more is coming. Quarterback Rocco Becht has taken a step in his final year of eligibility.
The wide receiver group is stronger than it has been in recent seasons. The offensive line is giving Becht time and helping create room in the run game.
The problem is that all of it needs to show up more often, and the backs have to be better at finishing the job.
Hansen said he knows that.
“I just need to be a little bit better with the little details,” Hansen said. “And I just need to hammer away and have a great week of practice for Buffalo. ...
I need to take accountability for it. And I need to fix those things in the run game.
Whether that’s the free hat or whatever it is, I need to be able to have a plan for that guy and really just keep working on the little details of our footwork, our aiming point, everything like that.”
There’s also a bigger concern waiting down the road. An offense that stalls this often can put too much pressure on a defense, and a stronger opponent is much more likely to punish those mistakes. USC, which visits Beaver Stadium in four weeks, would be a much harsher test than Temple.
If Penn State needs another way to move the ball, it has one. The Nittany Lions already use heavy personnel, sometimes putting four tight ends on the field, and could lean into that even more. With the tight ends’ athletic ability, the threat of the pass can help keep defenses from crowding the run game.
“When Gabe (Burkle) is in the football game, he’s such a great blocker at the point of attack, and then he’s a real challenge in the passing game as well,” Campbell said. “And I’ll be honest with you, I thought [Andrew Rappleyea] played awesome again.
I know he doesn’t get the catches that Ben (Brahmer) had, but I thought his blocking - he springs the huge play. There’s a couple great blocks in the C and D gap.
When you got [Burkle] when you got Rapp, and then when you have Ben, those guys can do a lot of things, and it allows you to get into formations, and certainly some personnel stuff that gives you an advantage. And I thought those guys did a great job handling all that today.”
Brahmer backed that up with the best receiving line of the group, catching five passes for 79 yards and two touchdowns. Between him, Becht and the rest of the tight ends, Penn State has enough firepower to get out of trouble.
That’s what makes Saturday feel less like a disaster and more like a warning sign. Through two games, inconsistency has already started to show itself, and against Temple it showed up in a first half that produced only one touchdown against a defense that wasn’t likely to make Penn State pay for every mistake.
A better team can do that. And if the Nittany Lions don’t clean it up quickly, the issues that showed up against Temple could become a lot more costly.
In Other News...
Former Penn State Departures Are Already Becoming A Virginia Tech Problem
Virginia Techs 44-21 win over Old Dominion came with a familiar Penn State flavor, and for the Nittany Lions fan base, it was the kind of reminder that departures can quickly become somebody elses gain. Quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer, tight end Luke Reynolds and edge rushers Mylachi Williams and Cortez Harris all played major roles, giving the Hokies a boost on both sides of the ball as they handled business in the opener.
Grunkemeyer threw for 327 yards and two touchdowns, while Reynolds put together career highs in catches, yards and scores, and Williams and Harris each piled up multiple tackles for loss and sacks. Penn State coach James Franklin had already pointed to the offensive matchup problems created by Reynolds and slot receiver QueSean Brown, and if Virginia Tech keeps getting that kind of production from former Nittany Lions, it is easy to see why this one may linger as more than a one-game storyline. [Read more 🡒]
Penn States Newcomers Are Already Becoming The Heart Of This Team
Penn States newest faces were impossible to miss in the win over Temple, and that is exactly the point of this roster overhaul. The 2026 group includes 40 transfer players, and several of them were already shaping the game in a 27-9 victory that looked a lot more like a team with established answers than one still sorting through fresh parts. Rocco Becht settled in at quarterback and Ben Brahmer made an immediate imprint at tight end, while other transfers popped up all over the field on both sides of the ball.
Becht completed 21 of 27 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns, the kind of efficient debut that can change the tone of an entire offense. Brahmer added five catches for 78 yards and two scores, and the supporting cast of newcomers helped Penn State look deeper and more settled than a team still learning itself. The bigger question now is not whether the transfers can help, but how quickly this group can become the backbone of a season with higher ambitions still ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Penn States 2-0 Start Comes With One Big Defensive Concern
Penn States 2-0 start has the Nittany Lions moving up to No. 14 in the AP Top 25, and there was plenty else around the program to like over the weekend. The football team handled Temple in Week 2, the womens volleyball team swept Stanford, and several Penn State defenders earned Big Ten honors from Pro Football Focus, giving the athletic department a strong early-season snapshot across multiple sports.
The one concern hanging over the football side is a significant one. Head coach Matt Campbell said defensive end Max Granville suffered a season-ending injury, a blow that immediately changes the outlook for a defense that had just started to build momentum. Even with the ranking bump and the rest of the program stacking wins, Penn State now has to figure out how to absorb a major loss up front and keep the early surge on track. [Read more 🡒]