Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1547107
N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 6 2 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M F or a few weeks, Penn State head coach Matt Campbell had reason to feel good about his defense. Coordinator D'Anton Lynn's unit was built to stop the run and rely on a talented group of cornerbacks to defend the pass. Against nonconference opponents Mar- shall, Temple and Buffalo, that approach worked. The Nittany Lions outscored those overmatched foes 127-22, allowing just 7.3 points and 201.0 yards per game. Opposing offenses averaged only 90.0 passing yards. Penn State's performance in the non- conference season wasn't perfect, of course. The pass rush struggled without redshirt sophomore defensive end Max Granville, who sustained a season-end- ing injury in practice, and opponents also found occasional openings on the ground. Still, the Lions appeared to have a founda- tion they could build on. "It starts with defending the run," Campbell said. "Those guys [in the sec- ondary] have played a ton, and they have some really talented young guys behind them. It gives you the ability to rotate fresh bodies in and not expect those guys to play like that for 60 snaps in a game. But if you're going to play great pass de- fense, you've got to be able to play great run defense." When the nonconference season gave way to the Big Ten portion of the sched- ule, everything started to go sideways. Wisconsin, Northwestern and USC were better able to exploit the weaknesses that had merely been footnotes in the earlier games. More troubling, new problems emerged as Penn State approached the second half of its schedule. Wisconsin provided the first warning. Penn State forced 3 punts and intercepted 2 passes on the Badgers' first 5 posses- sions, building a 17-0 lead before Wis- consin answered with an 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive late in the first half. The Nittany Lions still led 20-10 in the fourth quarter, but a pair of late touchdowns by the Badgers turned that cushion into a 24-20 loss. Wisconsin went 75 yards in 10 plays for the first score, then won it on tight end Jacob Harris' 72-yard catch- and-run touchdown with 1:13 remaining. Tony Rojas led Penn State in tackles (44), tackles for loss (8.5), sacks (4) and interceptions (2) through six games, providing a steady presence in an injury-depleted linebacker group. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL Under Pressure Despite a promising start, Penn State has plenty to fix at midseason NAT E BAU E R | N AT E . B A U E R @ O N 3 . C O M MIDSEASON GRADES DEFENSE