Penn State’s 21-18 loss at Michigan did not stop the slide, but it did show a staff willing to keep moving pieces around.
The Nittany Lions dropped their fourth straight Big Ten game, yet the numbers from Pro Football Focus paint a slightly better picture than the previous two weeks. Penn State finished with an overall PFF grade of 68, an improvement from 66 against USC and a clear step up from the season-low 60.8 against Northwestern. In PFF’s system, 85 and above is “elite,” 81-84 is “good to great” and 60-80 lands in “average to above-average.”
Quarterback Rocco Becht’s night was still rough. He earned a 50.2 grade, his second-lowest of the season, after committing three turnovers against the Wolverines.
PFF has now graded Becht below 55 in three of Penn State’s four Big Ten games, with USC standing as the outlier at 72.7. He has taken every snap at quarterback in conference play, and there were no public signs from coach Matt Campbell that a change is coming.
One of the biggest individual bright spots came from Chase Sowell, who landed on PFF’s Big Ten team of the week after the best outing of his career. Sowell caught 11 passes for 161 yards and posted a team-best 91 grade. Andrew Rappleyea led Penn State’s tight ends with a 61.1 grade after finishing with seven catches.
Carson Hansen has reclaimed the lead role at running back. He handled 61 of the team’s 80 offensive snaps and was graded at 64.8, while James Peoples settled into a smaller role with a 58.2 grade. Quinton Martin barely factored in, playing just two snaps.
Up front, Penn State kept the same offensive line for a fourth straight Big Ten game, with all five starters on the field for every snap. Left tackle Malachi Goodman showed progress from his USC grade of 41.3 to 54.6 at Michigan, though the run game remains a struggle.
Center Brock Riker, who is working through a lower-body injury, posted his best grade of the season at 68.2 and was the top-graded lineman. Right tackle Anthony Donkoh wasn’t far behind at 66.1 and has been the group’s most steady presence all year.
The defense, meanwhile, has been reshaped in a few notable places. Tony Rojas has continued to look fully recovered from his 2025 ACL tear, and he now has five of Penn State’s nine sacks along with 10.5 of the team’s 32 tackles for loss. He graded out at 73.2, his second-best mark of the season and likely a little low.
Freshman Josiah Zayas has become one of the most important additions Campbell brought in, and his impact has stretched all the way to the secondary. Zayas made PFF’s all-Big Ten team with an 86 grade, and he was credited with one of the top interceptions in college football this season.
He also added three tackles at Michigan. Against Wisconsin, he made PFF’s national team of the week with a 93 grade.
With Zayas starting at nickel corner, Penn State has moved Zion Tracy almost entirely to safety. Tracy played 44 snaps there against Michigan, and the move pushed Marcus Neal Jr. and Jeremiah Cooper out of the starting lineup.
Neal and Cooper, who were both all-Big 12 safeties at Iowa State, combined for only 18 snaps against the Wolverines. Neal’s drop is especially striking, considering he made PFF’s national team of the week just five weeks ago with a 91.6 grade against Buffalo.
Penn State also altered its defensive line rotation. Ty Blanding made his first start of the season, played 24 snaps and received a 51.2 grade while replacing Ikenna Ezeogu as the team opened with three tackles instead of two ends. Caleb Bacon, used at defensive end for 16 snaps, was the line’s highest-graded player at 76.3.
In Other News...
Penn States Big Ten Position Just Got Much More Uncomfortable
Week 7 of the 2026 college football season shook up the national picture in a hurry, and the ripple effects reached well beyond the biggest headlines. With half of the AP Top 10 going down, including Georgia and Notre Dame, the sport suddenly feels a lot less predictable, and the Big Tens pecking order got harder to read by the hour. A weekend full of upsets and quarterback absences turned what had looked like a fairly stable race into something much messier.
Ohio State now has its own concern after Julian Sayin was sidelined for several weeks, a development that changes the leagues balance in a hurry. Around the conference, teams such as Rutgers, Minnesota, UCLA and Oregon posted notable results while also dealing with the growing reality of backup quarterbacks being forced into bigger roles. For Penn State, the broader takeaway is obvious: the path through the Big Ten just got more crowded, more unpredictable and a lot less comfortable. [Read more 🡒]
Rocco Becht Faces A Penn State Question Fans Can't Ignore
Rocco Bechts season has become one of the biggest reasons Penn States offense has stalled during a four-game losing streak. Through seven games, the quarterback has dealt with turnovers and uneven play, even as his completion percentage has climbed from last season. The bigger concern is that the improvement has not translated into cleaner overall production, especially on the short throws that are supposed to keep an offense on schedule.
Penn State has not done him many favors either. The running game has been weak, and injuries to key receivers have left Becht operating with less margin for error than he would like. Even so, the questions around him are growing because the underlying issues are showing up in the same places week after week, and the Nittany Lions still need a way to turn a frustrating stretch into something more sustainable. [Read more 🡒]
Penn States QB Faces Mounting Pressure After Painful Michigan Loss
Rocco Bechts latest outing left Penn State with plenty to sort through after a 21-18 loss to Michigan, a game in which the quarterbacks mistakes helped tilt the second half. Becht was part of a messy afternoon that featured two interceptions and a lost fumble, the kind of turnover-heavy performance that can linger after a tight road loss and raise questions about how a team moves forward.
Matt Campbell, though, did not sound ready to shift away from his starter. He pointed to Bechts competitiveness and the room he still has to grow, while Becht acknowledged the challenge and said he believes in himself and in the work ahead. For Penn State, the storyline now is less about one bad night than whether its quarterback can steady things quickly enough to keep the season from slipping into something more complicated. [Read more 🡒]