Penn State walked into Saturday night’s White Out with 114,419 people packing Beaver Stadium and left with the same problem that keeps showing up in different forms: the defense couldn’t hold up when USC started throwing punches.
The Nittany Lions were tied 17-17 at halftime, but the Trojans kept finding room in the secondary and pulled away for a 31-23 win. Penn State dropped to 3-3 overall and 0-3 in the Big Ten, while USC moved to 6-1 overall and 3-1 in conference play.
For Penn State, the game offered a clearer picture of who this offense is and a harsher reminder of what still isn’t working on the other side of the ball.
Rocco Becht and the passing game set the tone early and never really let up. His 21-for-32 line for 289 yards and a touchdown looked a lot more like the version Penn State had in the nonconference schedule than the one that struggled against Northwestern.
The Nittany Lions took a shot right away, hitting Chase Sowell for 47 yards on the second play from scrimmage, and Becht kept pushing the ball downfield from there. He looked composed in the pocket, made timely throws, and found a rhythm that gave the offense life.
Not every incompletion landed on him. James Peoples and Rappleyea both dropped checkdown passes that were there to be made.
Becht also missed high on one throw intended for Benjamin Brahmer in the back of the end zone in the fourth quarter. But the bigger story was how often Penn State looked dangerous through the air, even without star wide receiver Koby Howard.
Sowell finished with 95 yards, and seven different players caught passes. Rappleyea also had the most targets and scored Penn State’s only receiving touchdown, a sign the tight end group had a bigger role in the game plan.
Becht added another layer by using his legs, something that had been missing through the first five weeks. He finished with 20 yards on 10 carries and gave Penn State a few timely escapes when the offense needed them most.
Twice, on fourth down, he kept drives alive by taking off himself. One of the biggest came late in the second quarter, when he picked up 10 yards on fourth-and-3, sprinted to the right as the Trojan defense closed in, and stepped out of bounds with three seconds left.
That run set up Ryan Barker’s 48-yard field goal to send the teams into halftime tied.
He also showed he could make things happen while moving, including a 37-yard completion to Sowell on play action in the second quarter. When Becht can threaten defenses both as a passer and as a runner, it changes the way Penn State can attack.
The issue on the other side was much uglier. Penn State’s secondary had been the strength of the team so far this season, especially the cornerbacks, but USC tore through it.
Jayden Maiava passed for 301 yards and three touchdowns, and Trent Mosley and Tanook Hines kept finding space. At times, Penn State’s pass rush only brought three, and it still didn’t matter because the Trojans’ receivers were running free.
The tackling never caught up, either. USC finished with 86 yards after catch, and Penn State continued to miss too many stops in space.
D’Anton Lynn had already spent the week emphasizing tackling after the Northwestern game and added more drills in practice, but the fix didn’t show up enough on Saturday. Tony Rojas was one of the few defenders who held up consistently.
Penn State’s run defense was better than it was a week earlier, allowing 129 yards, but the night belonged to USC through the air. And until the Nittany Lions clean that up, the problems aren’t going away.
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Brett Eskildsens late fumble became the turning point in a 31-23 loss, giving USC the chance to bleed away the final moments and close out the game. For Penn State, it was the kind of finish that stings because the performance was competitive enough to matter, yet one costly mistake proved decisive when the Lions needed clean execution most. [Read more 🡒]
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Jayden Maiava was central to USCs answer, completing 21 of 33 passes for 301 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. The game had the feel of one that might tilt either way deep into the night, with lead changes and scoring drives keeping the pressure high, but USC handled the decisive moments well enough to make sure the record crowd went home remembering a loss Penn State will not shrug off quickly. [Read more 🡒]