UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The margin of victory at the college level is razor thin and for the first four games of Big Ten play Penn State was on the wrong side of that margin.
That changed Saturday as the Nittany Lions railroaded a Purdue team that ranked at the bottom of the Big Ten in rush defense, an area Penn State has been lacking in all year.
Throughout the four losses and even the previous three wins there seemed to be a bevy of plays that doomed Penn State on either side of the ball and they were either ill-equipped to overcome them or other issues came up along the way.
That could have easily continued against the Boilermakers, but the Nittany Lions were able to overcome the miscues and missed chances to dominate Purdue.
40.6 percent of the Boilermakers offense came on two plays during the second drive of the game. The first was a 38-yard pass from quarterback Ryan Browne to Asaad Waseem that beat cornerback Josiah Zayas. Just three plays later, Browne on what initially looked like a busted play, found Xavier Townsend for a touchdown to tie the game up.
Xavier Townsend gets @BoilerFootball on the board to tie it at 7-7 🙌
Watch on @BigTenNetwork https://t.co/o2OY8ZZtdq
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) October 31, 2026
Penn State responded with a touchdown drive of its own, a Rocco Becht rushing touchdown, to push the lead to 14-7 and swing the momentum back toward the home team.
On the next offensive drive for the Nittany Lions, it looked like things were starting to get going, but a no-call by the officials stunted what could have been a game-changing drive into a punt.
It appeared that receiver Brett Eskildsen was interfered with, but no flag was thrown.
“On that play, they said that it was bang bang, and they didn’t feel like he impeded the opportunity for the ball to get caught,” head coach Matt Campbell said afterward. “However that looks or whatever that is, I’m sure we’ll send it in and get any more clarity.”
Of course, things went horribly wrong on said punt and Purdue tied the game up.
A BLOCKED PUNT TURNED INTO SIX 🤯
@BoilerFootball special teams delivers!
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— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 31, 2026
One could easily ask why throw the ball twice more after the incompletion when you’re running all over the defense and that would have been a fair question, for Campbell, the missed call lingered and it was something he wasn’t thrilled with himself about after the game.
“I wasn’t happy with the two calls prior to the block punt, so that probably didn’t help me be focused in the moment,” Campbell said. ” The blocked punt … Obviously, there was a breakdown in the protection. We’ve got great young men that we trust on that. We’re going to have to get it corrected.”
That could have been another dagger to damn the Nittany Lions, but again they answered with a touchdown drive, this time a Carson Hansen rushing score.
It was far from perfect from there on, but Penn State allowed only three points over the remainder of the game and finally forced turnovers as the defense made life for Purdue hell.
There were a multitude of penalties that seemingly thwarted big plays for Penn State. Whether it was the roughing the passer called on Yven Kemajou on third down in the third quarter or the holding on a 26-yard run by Cam Wallace, it was an uncharacteristic day in the penalty category.
“We’ve done a great job not being penalized,” Campbell said. “But there were a lot of those tonight, and it’ll be really hard for us to win, especially win on the road, getting penalized like that.”
Winning is far from a guarantee, but Campbell and company found a way to work out a win even when things might not have been going the way of the Nittany Lions which is a hump they couldn’t get over in each of their four losses.
“For whatever reason, whether it’s coaching, whether it’s whatever, we didn’t have the ability to respond,” Campbell said. “At Michigan, I saw this group respond, and to me, it gained some momentum for itself.”
Being able to respond and overcome that adversity has been a buzzword for Campbell all season and Saturday, each time Penn State was faced with it, it responded in a big way.
“Those are where we’re growing,” Campbell said. “Again, that’s not in the stat line. That’s not in the flashy stuff, but that’s what I’ve watched this team. It started to become a real team and play for each other and demand a pathway forward, no matter what happens. And that is what we are set out to build here and build the right foundation on. And we are growing in those moments, and there’s going to be more challenges and more opportunities to grow forward, and we’ll have to continue to get better.”
