Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1547107
N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 6 31 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M are putting in is not leading to better re- sults, and the entire offense is suffering. Redshirt senior quarterback Rocco Becht must be more consistently accu- rate. He completed 59 of 102 passes, or 57.8 percent, for 646 yards, 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions in the three Big Ten losses. He said Oct. 6 that Penn State did not yet know whether it was a run-first or pass-first team, a major problem at this stage. The Lions had 182 pass attempts and 209 rushing attempts through six games, but that split alone does not es- tablish an identity. Whatever the intended balance, neither phase has been reliable enough to sustain the offense. "I think it starts with explosive plays," Becht said. "When you get the running game going and have an explosive run, it breaks the defense down a little bit, and now we're able to run play-action passes. We're able to throw the ball down the field. But when one side of the of- fense isn't there, you can't do it. "You've got to complement each other, and we're working on that in practice, complementary offense. Hopefully, we'll be able to do that." A Global Approach If Penn State can do that, fans might like what they see on offense. Right now, they're frustrated, and so are the coaches and players. One big performance could ease that frustration. But whether the Lions can deliver it remains to be seen. "Rocco certainly needs to be better, and we can continue to pound away at that," Campbell said. "And Rocco would be the first one to say it. But we need to be better with the other 10 people around him, too. We need to be better in our pass protection at times. We certainly need to be better in terms of our run game. The lack of consistency around Rocco is cer- tainly putting the spotlight on Rocco's ability or inability at times to play with consistency. I think the biggest thing is, that goes to a global approach to this. "We have to do a better job of having consistency with those other 10 play- ers, so we can get him into a rhythm, so he can play with great consistency. We haven't been able to do that, and obvi- ously, that is frustrating. Again, it goes back to the identity of our football team or lack thereof right now, of having the identity that we want to have and we ex- pect to have, and we have to work really hard to get back right now." ■ Senior Carson Hansen rushed for 952 yards at Iowa State in 2025. Through his first six games at Penn State, he had 227 yards and 3 touchdowns on 57 carries. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL