Penn State’s humiliating loss to Northwestern shows Matt Campbell’s rebuilding Nittany Lions has a long way to go

After a loss to Wisconsin at home in Week 4, a road trip to the Northwest seemed like a good bounce-back opportunity for Matt Campbell and Penn State as they arrived in Evanston, Illinois. Instead, the Nittany Lions suffered a humiliating 34-13 defeat as the Wildcats crushed them.

In the debut of a new Ryan Field, Northwestern jumped out to a 10-0 lead and was in complete control for the vast majority of the game. Entering the fourth quarter, the Wildcats led 31-7 as they cruised to a 21-point victory.

It’s not every day that Penn State suffers such lopsided losses to unranked teams. In fact, this rarely happens in the 21st century. Here are some details from the Nittany Lions’ humiliating loss:

• Third biggest defeat against an unranked opponent since 2000.
• Biggest road loss to an unranked team since 2003.
• First 20-point loss as a favorite since 2014.
• Fourth most rushing yards allowed in program history.

For the most part, Penn State’s only comparable performances came during probation, following the Jerry Sandusky scandal. It’s not the kind of start Campbell was hoping for when he took over in Happy Valley, and he’s already spoiling a favorable schedule for the Nittany Lions.

Nittany Lions dominated in the trenches

Penn State’s defense only allowed 93 passing yards, but the problem was that Northwestern didn’t need to throw the ball. The Wildcats gashed the Nittany Lions with one big run after another – totaling 413 yards rushing with an average of 7.5 yards per attempt.

On the other hand, Penn State’s ground game had no traction. The Nittany Lions ran for 48 yards on 22 attempts with a long run of just 10 yards.

This dominance on the field allowed Northwestern to stay away from Penn State’s offense all night. The Wildcats had the ball for 36:05, compared to just 23:55 for the Nittany Lions.

Penn State squanders soft schedule

When the Big Ten schedules were first released, it looked like Penn State could come away with nine wins and become a College Football Playoff dark horse, despite all the turnover on the roster and coaching staff.

That’s because, by Big Ten standards, the Nittany Lions got off easy. They avoided Ohio State, Indiana or Oregon, and conference road games were against Northwestern, Michigan, Washington and Maryland.

That didn’t seem too daunting, assuming some level of stability with Campbell bringing Rocco Becht and much of the Iowa State roster with him, Penn State was poised to do some damage in Campbell’s first year on the job.

Ahead for the Nittany Lions

The good news is that the schedule still seems relatively flexible. The only ranked opponent on the Nittany Lions’ 2026 roster is USC, and the Trojans would be unranked if they lose to Washington on Saturday night. On paper, Penn State should be able to win every game it plays this fall.

Of course, given what we’ve seen over the past two weeks, it’s hard to trust him anywhere. Last week, the Nittany Lions let Wisconsin hang around and got burned. This week, the team was simply crushed by Northwestern.

Now, Campbell is already facing tough questions, and he’s not even six games into his tenure. Penn State has the runway to get back on track, but it needs to clean things up quickly.

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