Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1547107
N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 6 3 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M games for the Bruins in 2024 and '25, in- cluding a 42-37 victory over Penn State last October. Taupaki was on the Rose Bowl turf for 9 snaps in UCLA's upset win against the then-No. 7 Nittany Lions. His al- legiances were with the Bruins that day, but school loyalties can shift quickly in a world where everyone is a perpetual free agent. As gratifying as that win may have been in the moment, it's long since receded into the distant past. Said Tau- paki, "I'm a Penn Stater for life now." 'He Knows What's Going On' The 6-foot-4, 326-pound Taupaki arrived in State College as part of a thorough defensive overhaul. No unit was left untouched, but the defen- sive line underwent a different kind of makeover in that the newcomers didn't come predominantly from Campbell's former school. While nearly every other position group, including the linebacker corps and secondary, was restocked with Iowa State alums, Penn State mostly looked elsewhere for its linemen. Seniors Williams and Taupaki were brought in from UCLA to start in the interior, while redshirt sophomore Armstrong Nnodim and junior Dallas Vakalahi came from Oklahoma State and Utah, respectively, and have been serving as backups. On the outside, sophomore edge rusher Alexander McPherson arrived from Colorado. There is a former Cy- clone in the defensive end rotation in redshirt senior Ikenna Ezeogu. And one of Ezeogu's Iowa State classmates, Ca- leb Bacon, was moved from linebacker to the defensive front after injuries thinned out the edge-rushing corps. But more than perhaps any other posi- tion group on this year's Nittany Lion team, the defensive line was built out of disparate parts. That's why Taupaki was such an important acquisition. With the departure of last season's starting tackles, Zane Du- rant and Alonzo Ford Jr., Penn State's new coaching staff knew it needed immediate help in the middle of the defensive front. They landed five defensive tackles in the transfer portal, but even with those additions, the Nittany Lions weren't at full strength to start the season. Armstrong Nnodim and Alijah Carnell were both unavailable at the beginning of the season due to injuries. The two redshirt soph- omores made their debuts against Buffalo in Week 3. Nnodim, for- merly of Oklahoma State, took 15 snaps in the Lions' 55-13 rout of the Bulls, while Carnell, an Iowa State transfer, played 12, per Pro Football Focus. Defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn was grateful to have them back, even with seniors Siale Tau- paki and Keanu Williams continu- ing to man the starting positions. "You need depth in the Big Ten," Lynn said. "You need to keep guys fresh. We want to have four to five guys in there that we can play throughout a game, throughout the year. The first two weeks, not having those guys, we had guys that were probably playing a little bit too much. "It just gives us more depth. It helps keep the guys in front of them fresh. And when they're on the field, we look at them like starters. They have the ability to play just like the guys in front of them." In Penn State's 24-20 loss to Wisconsin in its Big Ten opener, Nnodim and Carnell earned 30 and 5 snaps, respectively, while backing up Williams (50 snaps) and Taupaki (42). Although the Nit- tany Lions weren't able to protect an early 17-point lead, the de- fensive front held up well for most of the game, with the Badgers managing 120 rushing yards. It was a different story the following week at Northwestern. Taupaki, Williams and Nnodim all surpassed 30 snaps (Carnell was limited to 16), but the Wildcats caught Penn State flat-footed with their Wing-T offense and rushed for 413 yards in a 34-13 romp. First-year Northwestern offen- sive coordinator Chip Kelly was familiar with Lynn's defensive approach, having employed him as coordinator at UCLA in 2023. Against Penn State, Kelly used a succession of quick-hitting runs to neutralize the defensive tack- les and get ball-carriers Caleb Komolafe and Joseph Himon II to the second level. It couldn't have gone better for the hosts; Komo- lafe and Himon finished with 188 and 162 yards, respectively. Lynn tried to settle his players down by leaving the booth at halftime and coaching the second half from the sideline, but it didn't do much good. Northwestern fin- ished with its highest single-game rushing total since 2003, while Penn State left Evanston with seri- ous concerns about what the fu- ture holds. Kelly's unique scheme might prove hard for future opponents to replicate, but this was not how Penn State's defense had hoped to begin its first Big Ten season under Lynn and head coach Matt Campbell. — Matt Herb DT Depth Improves, But Big Ten Wins Prove Elusive Hindered by an offseason injury, Oklahoma State transfer Armstrong Nnodim made his Penn State debut in Week 3 against Buffalo. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL