Penn State football appears to be standing at the edge of a cliff. Or, has potentially already gone over it, depending on your outlook. Perhaps the most apt metaphor is like when a vehicle has run off the road and is perched precariously on the precipice (how’s that for some alliteration) with the front tires dangling over the void and the back tires just barely hanging on – the characters need to carefully move to the back of the vehicle to prevent it from plunging into the abyss.
The Lions are 3-2, coming off back-to-back embarrassing losses, albeit in two very different manners. In one, the offense petered out while the defense couldn’t hold on for 40 straight minutes without any help. In the other, all sides of the ball looked completely lost.
Many are looking at the remaining schedule, and are trying to find 3 more wins so the team can get to bowl eligibility. Most are chalking this coming weekend up as a loss to a top 20 USC squad that can score points, if nothing else.
So the question is – now what?
Matt Campbell is a good football coach. He took Iowa State to essentially unprecedented heights during his tenure there, and is known for doing more with less.
Well, Matt, now is the time to do some of that fancy coaching you’re so well-known for.
The hardest decision has to revolve around embattled quarterback Rocco Becht. In the last 6 quarters of football, Rocco has attempted 59 passes and completed just 33 of them for a 56% completion rate. He’s averaging 5.1 yards per attempt, with 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions.
Compare that with the first three weeks (against admittedly non-Big Ten teams) plus the first half of the Wisconsin game, where he completed 67% of his passes, averaging 10.8 yards per attempt, with 9 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.
I don’t know if he’s got a case of the yips, if he took a hard hit against Wisconsin and learned what Big Ten defenses are all about and has since gotten in his head about things, a nagging injury we don’t know about, or something else entirely.
But right now, he’s a liability. He’s not moving to the back of the car, hanging off the cliff, as it were. In fact, it almost seems like he’s inching toward the front of the car, pulling the car – the 2026 season, in this metaphor – closer and closer to a fiery demise.
I’m not a coach, I don’t get paid the big bucks to make the tough decisions. I’m also not privy to NIL dealings and valuations and contracts and such. I get it that Rocco has been with Matt Campbell forever, is getting paid starting QB money.
But man, sometimes you just need to look in the mirror and realize that you made a mistake. Not to say Rocco couldn’t turn things around. I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion that he can’t sort things out.
But right now, his play is a detriment to the team. I think Alex Manske should get the nod against USC. What’s the worst that happens? He doesn’t play well, and Penn State loses? Most people (maybe not the odds-makers in Las Vegas) are expecting a Penn State loss. Big whoop. Rocco won’t be here next year. Why completely scuttle this season when the guy who was supposed to be the steadying hand at the tiller is leading you directly into the maelstrom?
Cut your losses, play Manske, and see if we can get the future going.
Or, play Becht, plummet to the season’s doom, and see if things get any better when the team has to be picked apart in the flaming wreckage to prep for the 2027 season.
