Penn State is back at Beaver Stadium on Saturday to close out its non-conference schedule, and the No. 14 Nittany Lions have a chance to keep rolling against Buffalo in the annual Big Ten-MAC challenge.
The matchup comes with Penn State heavily favored. DraftKings listed the Nittany Lions as 40.5-point favorites, with the over/under set at 49.5. Penn State has covered the spread once this season, doing it in the 45-0 season-opening win over Marshall.
The Nittany Lions are 2-0 after beating Marshall and Buffalo by a combined 72-9, and they’ve done it without much trouble on either side of the ball. Penn State has yet to be seriously tested offensively, while its defense has been the clear headline so far. The Nittany Lions lead the nation in scoring defense at 4.5 points per game, and they did not give up a touchdown until the final two minutes against Temple last week at Lincoln Financial Field.
Quarterback Rocco Becht has been the biggest reason the offense has looked sharp. He’s off to the best start of his career and has put together one of the top two-game stretches in the country. Becht leads the Big Ten in passer-efficiency rating and has completed at least 71 percent of his passes in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.
Penn State’s passing game has shown real pop, too. The Nittany Lions already have 12 completions of 20 yards or more, which ranks second in the Big Ten.
The run game has been a different story, though. Penn State is the only team in the conference without a run of 20-plus yards, a point of concern for offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser.
Buffalo comes in at 1-1 after opening with a 21-17 win over Albany and then falling 33-20 at FIU. The Bulls have leaned heavily on receiver Chance Morrow, their most dangerous weapon so far. The fifth-year senior has scored all five of Buffalo’s touchdowns and has 18 catches, including 12 in the loss to FIU.
At quarterback, Buffalo coach Pete Lembo said Jason Wright is likely to start against Penn State. Wright stepped in for Elijah Holmes, who was injured last week against FIU, and gave the offense a lift. The sophomore completed 13 of 27 passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns.
There’s also a coaching wrinkle in this one. Lembo and Penn State coach Matt Campbell are meeting for the decisive fifth time in their series, after splitting four previous games when they were at Ball State and Toledo, respectively.
In Other News...
Penn State Just Got Fresh Fuel For Its Scheduling Debate
Penn States home date with Buffalo in Week 3 still drew a massive crowd by most college football standards, but the official attendance of 103,817 was the smallest at Beaver Stadium since 2019, not counting the fan-less 2020 season. It arrived at a time when the Nittany Lions non-conference schedule is already under a microscope, with plenty of noise around whether the program should be pushing harder for more demanding early-season matchups.
Matt Campbell said he has not yet discussed scheduling with the athletic director, and that sort of ambiguity only adds to a conversation that is likely to keep coming back as the sport changes. With the playoff format now expanded, future scheduling decisions may be viewed through a different lens, and Penn State is right in the middle of the debate over whether strong gate numbers are enough when the conversation turns to resume-building games. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Has A Personal Reason To Mourn Ernie Accorsi
Penn State has another familiar NFL tie to reflect on with the death of Ernie Accorsi at 84, a longtime league executive whose influence stretched well beyond the front office. Before his work as general manager of the Giants, Colts and Browns made him one of footballs most respected builders, Accorsi had already left his mark in State College as a Penn State player, a connection that gives his passing a more personal weight for the program.
Accorsis football life was defined by the kind of moves that changed franchises, from helping bring Tom Coughlin to New York to helping set up the draft-day path to Eli Manning. The Giants later credited him with helping shape their 2007 Super Bowl run, and his place in multiple halls of fame reflects how widely he was admired across the sport, including by those who knew him long before his NFL fame. [Read more 🡒]
Chase Sowells Path To Penn State Says Plenty About Matt Campbell
Chase Sowells decision to head to Penn State says as much about Matt Campbell as it does about the wide receivers own priorities. According to Sowells father, the receiver passed on bigger money from other schools, including Florida, to play for Campbell, a detail that fits the larger picture around this move. Campbell has long carried a reputation for building real trust with his players, and Penn State looks to be benefiting from that pull.
The Nittany Lions have already seen plenty of Iowa State players follow Campbell to State College, a sign that the coachs influence travels well beyond one roster. For Penn State, that kind of loyalty matters because it can help make a transition feel less like a reset and more like a continuation of something already established. Sowells path adds another layer to that trend, even if the full impact of the move will take time to sort out. [Read more 🡒]