Penn State’s first seven games under Matt Campbell have left the Nittany Lions at 3-4 overall and still searching for their first Big Ten win heading into the bye week. And when you sort through the wreckage, a few areas still stand out as encouraging, even if the season has gone sideways in plenty of others.
The clearest bright spot has been the wide receiver room and the work Kashif Moore has done with it. That’s a significant shift for a program that has spent the last few years looking for answers on the outside.
Koby Howard and Chase Sowell now look like legitimate No. 1 options, while Brett Eskildsen brings elite speed and the ability to stress a defense vertically. Howard has missed all of Big Ten play with an injury, but could return against Purdue, and his presence alongside Sowell could reshape the offense in a real way.
Moore has also helped develop Howard and squeezed plenty out of Sowell, who is on track to post career highs in receptions, yards and receiving touchdowns.
Taylor Mouser’s offense has not produced the kind of results Penn State needs, but the play-calling hasn’t been the main problem. Mouser has installed a modern system that uses heavy personnel to create pressure on defenses.
The issue is that the roster hasn’t given him a running back who can fully capitalize on it, and the quarterback has given the ball away too often at the worst possible times. The red zone struggles fit into that same picture.
Penn State has gotten players open down there, but Becht has not delivered the ball cleanly enough, whether by missing them altogether or failing to place the pass where it needs to be.
There’s also a defensive unit that has held up better than most. Cornerbacks have been the most stable part of the defense and, in many ways, its best group.
Daryus Dixson and Audavion Collins have led the way, with Collins looking like a future NFL player and Dixson showing first-round upside down the road. Jahmir Joseph has contributed well at times on the outside, and Josiah Zayas may end up being the most intriguing long-term piece.
Zayas flipped to Penn State after Campbell was hired and has already shown value at multiple spots in the secondary, though his best fit may be outside corner, where his 6-foot-2 frame gives receivers a difficult matchup.
Penn State may also benefit from the kind of bad season that makes some players think twice about leaving. A few pieces who once looked like safe NFL departures could now be more likely to return.
Right tackle Anthony Donkoh and tight ends Andrew Rappleyea and Ben Brahmer stand out as players who could come back for the 2027 season and give the offense a major boost. If they return, they could form a key part of next year’s foundation.
That said, the quarterback play has been far too erratic. Rocco Becht has had stretches where he looks perfectly capable, but the low points have been brutal enough to swing games.
He followed shaky performances against Wisconsin and Northwestern with a better outing against USC, then turned in one of the worst games of his career against Michigan. The pattern is maddening: he can be fine for most of a game, then produce a handful of disastrous snaps that change everything.
Against Michigan, he was largely solid until two interceptions and a fumble handed over all 21 of the Wolverines’ points. He’s an above average quarterback, but he keeps bouncing between very good and very bad with almost nothing in between.
The pass rush has also fallen short of expectations. Entering the season, Penn State looked like a group that might compensate with depth and rotation, even without a true star edge rusher.
That hasn’t happened. So far, only Alex McPherson has flashed the kind of upside that suggests real damage off the edge in the future.
Yvan Kemajou has been solid, but the unit as a whole has not been good enough, and the inability to pressure quarterbacks has played a major role in the team’s problems through seven games. Major help may not arrive until January, when the transfer portal opens the door to adding a significant piece.
Still, nothing has been uglier than the run game. Becht’s inconsistency has hurt, but the ground attack has been the offense’s biggest failure.
Penn State has tried different schemes and different backs, yet none of the combinations has produced any real traction. Carson Hansen, James Peoples, Quinton Martin Jr. and Cam Wallace all look like average Big Ten backs, which puts the burden on the offensive line to create big lanes.
That hasn’t happened consistently, and even when holes do appear, the backs haven’t always been able to take advantage. There is at least some reason to believe the future could look different, since most of the offensive line could return next year and an offseason plus a new running back could change the shape of the offense.
In Other News...
Penn State Just Won A Recruiting Battle Ohio State Wanted
Penn State has added another piece to its 2027 recruiting board with the commitment of Jordan Hall, a three-star running back from Princeton High School in Cincinnati. Hall had been committed to Miami (OH) before reopening his recruitment, and the move quickly drew more attention as Power 4 programs lined up with offers, including Missouri and Ohio State.
For Penn State, landing Hall matters not just because of his upside at a position the staff always tracks closely, but because the Nittany Lions won out in a battle that had plenty of competition attached to it. Ohio States presence in the mix gave the recruitment an extra edge, and Halls decision gives Penn State an early win on the trail for a class still years from signing day. [Read more 🡒]
Former Penn State QB Is Suddenly At The Center Of A Huge ACC Win
Ethan Grunkemeyer has become one of the more interesting quarterback stories in college football this fall, and Penn State fans have reason to notice. The former Nittany Lion is now at Virginia Tech, where he has helped push the Hokies to a 6-2 start while piling up more than 2,140 passing yards and 17 touchdown throws in eight games.
His latest spotlight moment came in Virginia Techs win over Clemson, when he delivered the game-winning touchdown pass. It is a significant turn for a quarterback who once stepped into the Penn State starting job after an injury to the quarterback ahead of him, and it adds another layer to a season that has suddenly put him near the top of the national conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Recruiting Just Took Another Hit On Defense
Penn States 2027 recruiting board on defense took another setback when three-star linebacker Blake Betton flipped his commitment to Wisconsin. The Shakopee, Minnesota, prospect had been pledged to the Nittany Lions since April, but he chose to stay closer to home and head to Madison instead, leaving Penn State with only one linebacker commitment in the class.
Blake Bettons change of heart comes on the heels of another recent flip, this one involving quarterback Will Wood, and it adds another reminder that the early work on future classes is never secure. For Penn State, the loss is more than just one name changing direction, because linebacker depth remains one of the spots the staff will keep trying to build out as the 2027 cycle develops. [Read more 🡒]