Philadelphia— Penn State didn’t take the proverbial “punch to the mouth” in Matt Campbell’s debut.
PSU opened the Campbell era with a 45-0 win over Marshall, and truthfully, it could have been even more one sided.
Week 2 against Temple was a different story.
Sure, Penn State handled the Owls well enough, with a 27-9 win that was 27-3 until the final minutes.
But with just seconds remaining in the first half, the game was tied at 3, and even after Rocco Becht’s 23-yard touchdown pass to Ben Brahmer, Penn State only led by seven going into the locker room.
It was how Penn State responded in the second half— adding 17 more unanswered points— that Campbell told reporters made him the proudest after the win.
WHAT CAMPBELL SAID
“I would just say that’s probably the proudest that I can be, and it’s what I told our guys in the locker room,” Campbell said. “I felt like nobody flinched, nobody wavered. There was no complaining. And I think some of that can easily happen, but the reality is all three phases kind of faltered earlier, right?
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“We missed a field goal. We don’t execute down there in the red zone. And then defensively we [allowed] two big plays on mental errors, and so the thing that I really appreciate [is] who responded. It’s the guys you expect, right? You know, Rocco steps up. He makes big plays in big moments to kind of get you back into the football game.”
THE BEST PLAYERS SHOWED UP
Another thing Campbell pointed out was that Penn State’s best players rose to the occasion.
QB Rocco Becht was strong for the second straight week, ending the afternoon 21 of 27 for 268 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.
LB Tony Rojas returned an interception to the 5-yard line in the first quarter, and Campbell also complimented the play of two more veterans in defensive backs Zion Tracy and Audavion Collins.
“Our A-players stepped up in A-moments and made A-plays,” Campbell said, “which is what you hope will happen in adverse situations. I thought those guys did a great job of that for sure.”
