Penn State’s latest collapse was the kind that leaves everybody with fingerprints on it. The 34-13 loss to Northwestern was ugly on the scoreboard, but the numbers underneath were even harsher: 507 total yards allowed, 414 of them on the ground, along with a 58% success rate and 7.7 yards per play surrendered.
Northwestern did not cough the ball up once. Penn State, meanwhile, got rolled in the debut of the new Ryan Field by a Wildcats team that already looked dangerous after nearly upsetting Indiana a week earlier and now has Chip Kelly steering the offense.
The result pushed Penn State to 0-2 in Big Ten play, and the outlook is getting grim fast. The College Football Playoff is out of reach, and there’s no guarantee the Nittany Lions even get to a bowl game.
There’s plenty of blame to spread around after a second straight loss to the team that ended James Franklin’s tenure last year. Here are the five biggest losers from the mess.
Pat Kraft sits at the top of the list because the whole situation traces back to the coaching change and what came after it. It’s still too early to make sweeping judgments about firing Franklin a year after a College Football Playoff run and the chaotic search that followed, but the questions are getting louder.
Kraft wanted a splash hire and passed over younger, rising names. Bob Chesney, a Northeast coach who turned a CFP appearance at James Madison into the UCLA job, was one of the examples mentioned, and UCLA has looked better than expected in Year 1.
Will Stein was another candidate in the mix, and he already owns a road win at Kentucky and a victory at Texas A&M in College Station, though that result “isn’t aging particularly well.” Kraft also whiffed publicly on BYU’s Kalani Sitake before landing on Matt Campbell, and right now that choice looks shaky.
Even so, the drawn-out search left Penn State behind on the 2027 recruiting class.
Campbell is the next major loser, and not just because the roster he inherited has serious flaws. His in-game decisions have been too cautious for two straight weeks.
A week after Penn State blew a 17-point lead to Wisconsin despite winning the turnover battle and getting a defensive touchdown, the Nittany Lions got steamrolled. The conservative approach showed up early, when Penn State punted on 4th-and-2 from its own 44-yard line while already trailing 10-0 in the first quarter.
Then, after a second-half touchdown cut the deficit to 31-13 following a disastrous attempt at a “Philly Special,” Campbell kicked the ball away instead of trying an onside kick with 7:53 left and Penn State still down three scores.
Ikaika Malloe has to wear a chunk of the defensive failure, even if D’Anton Lynn is the one who ultimately owns a run defense that gave up more than 400 yards. Malloe’s job is the interior line, and that room was built to be bigger and sturdier after Deion Barnes was replaced.
The idea was to bring in 300-plus pound tackles who could absorb blocks and let the linebackers play fast and free. That trade-off comes with some pass-rush sacrifice, and Penn State’s pass rush has been poor all season, but the system only works if the front can at least hold its ground.
Instead, the defensive tackles were getting blown backward all night. Kooper Ebel and Tony Rojas struggled too, getting pulled around by Chip Kelly’s eye candy while Keanu Williams, Armstrong Nnodim, and the rest of the interior line had bodies in their lap all game.
Rocco Becht was another clear loser, even if the offense’s problems went well beyond one quarterback. He didn’t have many open receivers downfield, the protection was shaky, and the run game never found traction.
Still, the veteran quarterback has done little to suggest he fits in the Big Ten. He’s been inaccurate, uneasy, and indecisive, and for the second week in a row he had multiple passes tipped at the line.
His arm strength is below average, his athleticism is underwhelming, and he hasn’t shown the confidence to trust his receivers and rip the ball. That hesitation is only making his flaws more obvious.
He also isn’t handling the small details well, whether that means setting protections for an offensive line with a young center or getting the offense into the right play. The source material says there aren’t really any right plays for this offense without Koby Howard, which is also why Taylor Mouser narrowly missed this list.
The White Out rounds out the five. It’s hard to zoom out in the immediate aftermath of a loss like this, but the broader picture is bad.
Penn State is 0-2 in conference play, the program is heading toward a disastrous first year under Campbell after a disastrous final year under Franklin, ticket prices are higher than ever, and Beaver Stadium has not been filling up this season. That makes the program’s biggest tradition and biggest recruiting showcase feel like a stage for all the wrong kind of attention.
In Other News...
Penn States Northwestern Prep Just Took A Surprising Turn
Northwesterns injury report added a wrinkle to a Penn State matchup that was already going to be shaped by personnel more than pageantry. The Wildcats will be without tight end Luke Dehnicke and defensive back Braden Turner, while defensive back Damon Walters and receiver Hayden Eligon are listed as game-time decisions. The most notable update there is Eligon, who is expected to play, giving Northwestern at least some help as it tries to sort through the weeks uncertainty.
Penn State has its own absences to manage, with defensive end Max Granville out for the season and receiver Koby Howard sidelined for an extended stretch. So while the focus often falls on who is available for the opponent, this one is a reminder that the Nittany Lions are still working through their own depth questions as they head into the game. Availability across both sidelines could end up mattering as much as anything schematic on Saturday. [Read more 🡒]
Penn States Loss Had One Stretch That Changed Everything
Penn States latest setback in Big Ten play came with a familiar frustration, but the game swung in a way that was impossible to ignore. Northwestern leaned on its running game and controlled the pace from the outset, punctuating its command with a 75-yard touchdown drive early in the second quarter that helped turn the afternoon in its favor.
For Penn State, the 34-13 loss marked a second conference defeat and left the Nittany Lions searching for answers after another uneven showing. Chase Sowell provided one of the brighter spots on offense, while Tony Rojas stood out on defense, but those individual efforts were not enough to offset Northwesterns physical edge or the broader struggles that defined the game. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Just Got Exposed In A Way Fans Feared
Northwesterns long-awaited return to Ryan Field turned into a rough afternoon for Penn State, and the loss looked every bit as lopsided as the final score. The Wildcats beat the Nittany Lions 34-13 in a game that marked Northwesterns first home crowd in more than 1,000 days, and the home side made the most of the moment with a relentless ground attack and enough defensive stands to keep Penn State from settling in.
Caleb Komolafe and Joseph Himon II each topped 100 rushing yards as Northwestern piled up 415 on the ground, a number that will stick with Penn State long after the trip home. The Wildcats kept stringing together scoring drives while the Nittany Lions struggled to answer, and the combination of methodical offense and timely stops left Penn State with an ugly result and plenty to sort through moving forward. [Read more 🡒]