College football is here, and there has been plenty of drama surrounding college football as the Texas Longhorns came back from 23-3 in the fourth quarter to defeat the number one-ranked team in the nation, the Ohio State Buckeyes. But let’s talk about the Penn State Nittany Lions, who are currently 2-0 and ranked number fourteen in the country.
The Nittany Lions opened their season against the Marshall Thundering Herd with a 45-0 victory, followed by a 27-9 win against the Temple Owls. While they are 2-0, the game against the Owls was not a blowout, people thought, and there are some concerns about the Nittany Lions. On the flip side of things, they are 2-0 and have a chance to go 12-0 under first year head coach Matt Campbell. With that being said, let’s take a look at why and why not the Nittany Lions can go 12-0.
Can Penn State Football Go Undefeated?
The Case for Penn State going unbeaten
Perhaps the most obvious case for the Lions to go unbeaten is the strength of schedule. Unlike typical years, the Lions do not face the Buckeyes or Indiana, who are now coming off a national championship, and they do not play Oregon either.
On paper, the Nittany Lions’ only tough games are the Michigan Wolverines, which will be played at Ann Arbor, and the USC Trojans, who come to Happy Valley on the whiteout. With the Wolverines nearly losing to Western Michigan and the Trojans having to play at Happy Valley at night, there is a real chance the Nittany Lions go 12-0, assuming they win and take care of business against their weaker matchups. No Big Ten schedule is weak, but they have one of the easier schedules in college football.
The next reason they could go 12-0 is Rocco Becht and Koby Howard. Becht looks like an NFL-level quarterback for the Nittany Lions thus far, he threw for 539 yards and seven touchdown passes in just two games with the Lions. Becht also looks really good and comfortable throwing downfield and finding open targets.
While the offense struggled with the Owls, they got going in the second half, and Becht did not turn the ball over. As for Howard, he is proving that all he needed was an opportunity. The wide receiver has just nine catches for 229 yards and one touchdown this season. The Nittany Lions have lacked a true wide receiver the past few years, but it seems like they have a hidden gem right here with Howard.
Why The Nittany Lions Might Not Go Unbeaten
With positives come negatives; the Nittany Lions also have some things to be worried about. The first is how they looked against the Owls. If you notice how teams like Georgia and the Buckeyes smoke bad teams early and fast, you will notice the Nittany Lions tend to start slower than those teams and have less explosive plays. They did smoke the Thundering Herd, but they did not even score against the Owls until the third quarter. They also did not score on several drives where they got in the red zone, and against better teams, they likely will not be able to win games.
Next, we have the struggling running game. The Lions’ running back, Carson Hansen, has just 132 rushing yards on 30 carries and still zero touchdowns. Against a good Wolverines defense that held the Oklahoma Sooners to just ten points and beat them, if the running game does not improve, the Wolverines will likely not only win but dominate.
The last thing is the run defense; if the Lions give up over 70 rushing yards to two Owl players, how will they get stops against better teams? It is early, and teams have bad games, which is why fans should not panic yet, but this week’s matchup against the Buffalo Bulls should tell us more because it is a game the Lions should dominate.
Penn State Football is 2-0 with plenty of positives and negatives early on in the season. They have a real shot to go 12-0 but also have reasons to believe they will not go 12-0. Do you think the Nittany Lions have what it takes to go unbeaten in the 2026 regular season?
Main Image: Matthew O’Haren-Imagn Images
