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Penn State Nittany Lions

Game Information

Week: 9

Date: Saturday, October 31, 2026

Location: University Park, Pennsylvania

Time: TBA

TV: TBA

Head Coach – Matt Campbell

Seasons at School (as head coach): 0

Overall Coaching Record: 107-70

(‘11-‘15) – Toledo: 35-15

(’16-‘25) – Iowa State: 72-55

2025 Results

Overall Record: 7-6

Conference Record: 3-6

Nevada: W – 46-11

FIU: W – 34-0

Vilanova: W – 52-6

(6) Oregon: L – 24-30

UCLA: L – 37-42

Northwestern: L – 21-22

Iowa: L – 24-25

(1) Ohio State: L – 14-38

(2) Indiana: L – 24-27

Michigan State: W – 28-10

Nebraska: W – 37-10

Rutgers: W – 40-36

Bowl Game: Clemson – W – 22-10

2025 Stat Leaders

Offense

Passing Yards: Ethan Grunkemeyer – 1339

Touchdown Passes: Ethan Grunkemeyer – 8

Rushing Yards: Kaytron Allen – 1303

Rushing Touchdowns: Kaytron Allen – 15

Receiving Yards: Trebor Pena – 552

Receiving Touchdowns: Devonte Ross – 5

Total Touchdowns: Kaytron Allen – 15

Defense

Tackles: Amare Campbell – 103

Sacks: Dani Dennis-Sutton – 8.5

Tackles for Loss: Dani Dennis-Sutton – 12

Interceptions: 6 players tied with 1

2026 Key Players

Offense

Quarterback: Rocco Becht

Offensive line: Malachi Goodman

Running back: Carson Hansen

Wide Receiver / Tight End: Brett Eskildsen

Defense

Defensive Line: Max Granville

Linebacker: Caleb Bacon

Secondary: Marcus Neal

2026 Media Predictions

6th out of 18 Big 10 Teams

My Thoughts

After a decade in Ames, Iowa, as the head Cyclone, Matt Campbell finally pulled the trigger on a scenery change this offseason. He is an interesting choice for the Nittany Lions coming off the peaks and valleys of the James Franklin era in Happy Valley. On one hand, he helped elevate a historically bad Iowa State program into the upper tier of the Big 12; on the other, he’s coming off an underachieving 8-4 season and has averaged 7.5 wins since the 20-20 season, despite winning 11 games in 2024. Franklin got the boot for underachieving, and they replaced him with a coach who built up a solid foundation at Iowa State but never seemed to take the program to the next level. Penn State is betting a bigger budget will get Campbell over the hump, but color me skeptical. The fact that he took a team led by Brock Purdy and Breece Hall to a 7-6 record in the Big 12 will always color my judgment on Campbell despite his 11-win 2024 season.

Campbell isn’t making the trip east alone. He’ll be joined by 23 members of Iowa State’s 2025 team, including his starting backfield, comprised of quarterback Rocco Becht and running back Carson Hansen on offense and star safety Marcus Neal and middle linebacker Caleb Bacon. Once again, I’m looking at all these supposed 4* transfers from Iowa State and wondering how the Cyclones managed only 8 wins last season. Becht was decent but regressed, throwing 25 touchdowns and 9 interceptions in 2024 and 16 touchdowns and 9 interceptions in 2025. He’s experienced, but Campbell is banking on the return of his 2024 quarterback and not the 2025 version of Becht.

The quarterback always gets the headlines, but personally, I think running back Carson Hansen will be the star of the show for Penn State. He split carries with Aba Sama last season but still managed 952 yards on 188 carries (5.1 Y/A) and 6 touchdowns. He also caught 19 passes out of the backfield for an additional 134 yards. He’s joined by former 4* Ohio State recruit James Peoples, giving the Nittany Lions a solid 1-2 punch at running back. I anticipate the offense to heavily feature the run while allowing Becht to pick his spots in the play-action game, where he has his top three options from last season in wideouts Brett Eskildsen, Chase Sowell and tight end Benjamin Brahmer joining him in Happy Valley.

My big question regarding the Penn State offense is how an Iowa State offense that finished 70th in the nation last season is supposed to improve by playing a tougher schedule in the Big 10. I think we’ll have some answers by the time this game rolls around on the schedule.

On defense, Iowa State’s starting safeties, Marcus Neal Jr. and Jeremiah Cooper, give Matt Campbell one of the most talented and experienced back ends in the Big 10, and they should be solid at linebacker with multiple Iowa State linebackers coming over, including Kooper Ebel and Caleb Bacon, who were second and third in tackles last season for the Cyclones. Defensive line is where things get interesting. Ikenna Ezeogu came over from Iowa State, but he’s more of a run stuffer than a pass rusher. He has 3 sacks in 3 seasons of college football. Max Granville is a 4* holdover from the Franklin era who recorded 1 sack in 2024 as a 1st-year player, then missed his entire second season with a knee injury in 2025. Ezeogou and Granville don’t bring much in terms of college football production to the edges of the Penn State defensive line; both are talented but will need to show they can get it done week-in-and-week-out in the Big 10. That should be helped by their laughably easy schedule to start the season. They shouldn’t be challenged until they play USC on October 10, then Michigan the following week, before having an open date to prepare for their primetime showdown with the mighty Boilermakers.

Overall, I expect this Penn State team to be in the Big 10’s second tier this season, alongside Michigan, USC, and Washington. Purdue gets them on the road, with both teams coming off an open week. The Nittany Lions should be a prohibitive favorite in this one.

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