Midway through the season, Penn State’s offense has become a mess of unmet expectations, and the transfer-heavy group at the center of it has not come close to settling in against Big Ten competition. The first three games created optimism.
The four conference games since then have stripped most of it away. If the Nittany Lions are going to pull anything respectable out of the rest of the year, the offense has to start looking like a unit with answers instead of one searching for them.
At quarterback, Rocco Becht’s season has split cleanly into two different versions. The early one was impressive: through three games, he had completed 70 percent of his passes, thrown nine touchdowns and avoided turnovers altogether.
But the full seven-game picture has been far less flattering. His completion rate has fallen from 70.3 to 59.8, he has only three touchdown passes in the last four Big Ten games, and he has also thrown five interceptions after opening the year with none.
At this point, Becht looks much closer to losing the job than rediscovering the form he showed in September.
The running back room has been even rougher. Carson Hansen and James Peoples were supposed to give the ground game a lift, but neither has delivered anything close to that.
Hansen leads the team with 278 rushing yards through seven games, while Peoples has 246. The production has been especially grim in Big Ten play, where the unit has managed just 2.2 yards per carry over four games.
Even the 3-0 start did not hide much, since the group averaged only 4.4 there as well. This has been a failure across the board.
Penn State’s receivers and tight ends have offered more life, though the results still come with plenty of uneven stretches. The biggest blow came when Koby Howard got hurt.
Before that injury against Buffalo, Howard had looked like one of the best receivers in the country, piling up 344 yards in three games. Once he went down, the offense had to keep searching for a new focal point.
Eventually, Iowa State transfer Chase Sowell filled that role, and he now leads the team with 510 receiving yards after a string of breakout performances in recent weeks. At tight end, Ben Brahmer’s early momentum has faded, while Andrew Rappleyea has emerged as the bigger target for Becht in Big Ten play.
The offensive line, once seen as one of Penn State’s real strengths, has quietly become one of its biggest concerns. Some of the blame has landed on Becht and the run game, but the line has not done enough to help either one.
Penn State has not averaged more than 3.7 yards per carry in a conference game, which points directly to an inability to create movement at the line of scrimmage. The pass protection has not been much better, either, with PFF ranking the unit 93rd nationally.
If there is going to be any real change on offense, the line has to be part of it.
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Penn States Roster Makeover Hinges On 5 Newcomers Right Away
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The appeal is in how different those pieces are. Rodgers and Blms offer backcourt options, while Byers, Prkain and Oboh bring size, shooting, playmaking and defense to a group that needs more balance. The challenge now is turning all of that new talent into something functional quickly, because the pressure to improve under Rhoades starts as soon as the roster takes shape. [Read more 🡒]