Siale Taupaki kept circling back to the same idea after Penn State’s 34-13 loss to Northwestern, and the stat sheet backed him up. This was not just a rough defensive night. It was a full-scale collapse against the run.
Northwestern gashed Penn State for 413 rushing yards on 55 carries and scored four times on the ground, finishing at 7.5 yards per attempt. That was the most the Nittany Lions had allowed on the ground since the 2022 Michigan game, when the Wolverines piled up 418 rushing yards.
The Wildcats didn’t need to get fancy. They lined up, leaned on Penn State and kept moving the chains. Caleb Komolafe ran for 188 yards on 25 carries, while Joseph Himon II needed only 10 attempts to churn out 162 yards and two touchdowns.
Northwestern owned the line of scrimmage from the start. The Wildcats had the ball for 36:05, stacked up 19 rushing first downs and rolled to 506 total yards. Penn State forced only two punts the entire night.
Taupaki said the breakdown kept coming back to execution.
“We do a lot of scheming and understanding what such-and-such is, but it really comes down to the details,” Taupaki said when I asked him where the execution was breaking down. “I feel like we can craft that a little bit more.
But like I said, it’s a whole-team thing. We need to be able to play our role.”
That answer pointed to something deeper than one ugly box score. Penn State is still working through D’Anton Lynn’s defense, but Taupaki made clear the issue was not just about learning a new system.
I asked him directly whether the team was dealing with another difficult schematic adjustment, similar to last year’s transition under Jim Knowles.
“Pretty well,” Taupaki said of the defense’s adjustment. “Like I said, there’s still a lot of stuff to work on, craft on and sharpen our tools. But aside from that, it’s really just details, fundamentals and technique.”
If that’s the real problem, it only makes the performance look worse. Penn State knew exactly what Northwestern wanted to do and still couldn’t stop it.
The Wildcats showed their hand right away, rushing 15 times for 109 yards in the opening quarter and holding the ball for more than 10 minutes. Himon broke loose for a 47-yard run on Northwestern’s second scoring drive, then later found the end zone on runs of 38 and 11 yards. Komolafe added his own touchdown as the Wildcats kept landing body blows.
Penn State also failed to create much disruption behind the line of scrimmage. The defense was credited with just one quarterback hurry.
Tony Rojas had the lone sack, taking down Aidan Chiles for a nine-yard loss in the first quarter. The defensive line did not record a sack, and Alexander McPherson was the only Penn State defensive lineman credited with a quarterback hurry.
That lack of pressure mattered even more because Northwestern only threw 14 passes. Once the Wildcats could run like that, there was no need to invite Penn State’s pass rush into the game.
The grading numbers reflected the same story. Taupaki posted a 62.7 run-defense grade after entering the game with a season mark of 70.6.
Kooper Ebel finished at 61.1 and missed three tackles, while Rojas earned a 56.0 despite piling up five tackles, six assists and three stops. As a team, Penn State was charged with 10 missed tackles against the run.
Taupaki, one of the veteran voices in the room, said the message after a loss like this has to stay steady.
“After a game like this, I still continue to remind them to show up good, bad or ugly because it’s still another day to fight,” Taupaki said. “Like we all promised each other and what we signed up for, at the end of the day, we still have to show up and do what we need to do.”
Penn State will have another chance to respond this week. But after giving up 413 rushing yards and generating almost no pressure, just showing up won’t come close to being enough.
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James Franklin has pointed to consistency and physicality as the main concerns, and linebacker Cael Brezina has echoed that message from the defensive side. With USC next on the schedule, the coaching staff is leaning into more physical practices and a return to fundamentals, hoping that the group can sharpen the details before the Big Ten grind raises the stakes even further. [Read more 🡒]