Penn State left its season opener with a 45-0 win over Marshall, but the running game still has a little sorting out to do.
That was the main concern raised by a PennLive subscriber after Saturday afternoon’s game at Beaver Stadium, and it centered on how the carries might shake out between Carson Hansen, James Peoples and Quinton Martin as the season goes on. The early read? It’s too soon to draw hard conclusions.
This was the first game of Penn State’s 2026 season, and the offense is still blending in a lot of new pieces. There are four new starters on the offensive line, with new faces at left tackle, left guard, center and right guard.
The tight end group also includes a fresh addition in Iowa State transfer Ben Brahmer. In other words, this unit is still finding its footing.
Carson Hansen brings a strong résumé into the mix. He missed a 1,000-yard season at Iowa State in 2025 by 48 yards and finished that year with five straight 100-yard games. Peoples, meanwhile, arrives as an Ohio State transfer, and Martin is part of the backfield picture as well.
The expectation is that Penn State’s rushing attack will need a few games to really settle in.
That’s not unusual, either. Kaytron Allen left Penn State as the program’s all-time leading rusher, but his 2024 season opener at West Virginia was hardly a fireworks show. In that 34-12 win, he finished with 10 carries for 20 yards.
Penn State’s ground game later became a major strength down the stretch of the regular season and through its three College Football Playoff games. For now, the best approach is patience while Hansen, Peoples and Martin build chemistry with a line that is still getting adjusted.
In Other News...
Penn State Defense Now Gets A Former Lions QB With Something To Prove
Marshall quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson entered the season with plenty of attention after being named the Sun Belt Conference preseason Offensive Player of the Year, but Penn States defense made sure the opener on the other sideline felt anything but celebratory. In the 45-0 win, Del Rio-Wilson had a rough afternoon, and Penn State coach Matt Campbell pointed to the defensive effort as a major reason the Nittany Lions controlled the game from start to finish.
Now Penn State will see another familiar face in a different setting, with Temple using a rotation at quarterback that included former Nittany Lion Jaxon Smolik in a 38-14 win over Rhode Island. Smolik threw a touchdown pass and helped the Owls move the ball, another reminder that Penn States defense may have to keep track of more than one quarterback story line as the schedule unfolds. [Read more 🡒]
Rocco Bechts Penn State Debut Answered One Huge Question
Rocco Becht wasted little time settling the biggest offseason question around Penn States offense, and he did it in a way that should leave the Nittany Lions feeling better about their quarterback room than they have in a while. In his first game in a Penn State uniform, Becht was sharp from the start against Marshall, completing 13 of 18 passes for 271 yards and four touchdowns while avoiding turnovers in a lopsided Week 1 win to open the 2026 season.
The performance also pushed Bechts winning record as a starter to 27, a number that only adds to the confidence he brings into the job. Penn State was able to lean on its depth in the second half too, with backups Alex Manske and Connor Barry getting work, but the bigger takeaway was the ease with which Becht handled the stage and the questions that came with it. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Just Reopened Its Most Divisive Legacy Debate
The renovated Beaver Stadium has quietly added a detail that longtime Penn State fans are likely to notice right away: the sign for section 409 now carries an inverted color scheme, a subtle nod to Joe Paternos 409 career wins. It is the kind of small stadium touch that says a lot without saying much, and it fits into a broader shift around the program as it continues to reconsider how openly it wants to lean into Paternos place in school history.
Under head coach Matt Campbell, Penn State has been moving back toward a more public acknowledgment of Paterno after years of distance in the wake of the Sandusky scandal. The sign change has already reopened an old and unavoidable debate about how the program should remember one of its most important figures, balancing his on-field accomplishments against the unresolved discomfort that still surrounds his legacy. [Read more 🡒]