Stunning loss to Wisconsin ‘will eat at’ Campbell
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UNIVERSITY PARK -- Well, we all knew Matt Campbell wasn't going to go undefeated.
But Saturday's 24-20 come-from-ahead loss to Wisconsin was a cruel way to ruin his Big Ten opener before 108,014 stunned witnesses at Beaver Stadium, none of whom saw this coming until it was too late.
"We had so many opportunities to put the game away," Campbell said afterward.
Wisconsin trailed 17-0 in the first half and by 20-10 with as late as four minutes to play.
And even though the Nittany Lions' defense did not finish the game well, almost all of the blame for this disheartening loss falls at the feet of the offense.
Of the Lions' two touchdowns, the defense scored one and set up the other with an interception return to the Wisconsin 11.
"The reality of it is, defensively, I thought we played a tremendous football game," Campbell said. "We gave ourselves every opportunity to win. We just didn't take advantage of those opportunities."
The Lions weren't aggressive on offense, were too often content to play a field-position game and the (lack of) strategy ended up getting them beat as the defense was running on fumes at the end.
That helped make a hero out of Wisconsin quarterback Colton Joseph, who threw for 142 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter but otherwise struggled mightily.
Back to the offense:
Penn State had the ball with 1:13 and three timeouts left late in the second quarter, up 17-7, but endured an empty possession after a pre-snap penalty wiped out an 8-yard reception on first down.
From there, strangely, Campbell let the clock run out.
"I thought we were playing such good defense that I didn't want to put our team at risk," he said. "They had two timeouts, and I didn't want to give them the ball back."
He admitted the sequence, "will eat at me."
It was an example, and there were others (third-down runs that led to punts) of how the Lions were too passive or ineffective in the clutch (7-of-18 on third down).
Penn State settled for a field goal on its second possession when it advanced to the Wisconsin 1 but couldn't score a touchdown as its goal-line offense backfired.
Freshman Josiah Zayas returned an interception 51 yards for a touchdown to make it 10-0, and on UW's next possession, Daryus Dixson brought back another pick 24 yards to the Badgers' 11.
The Lions did manage to score there, and its 17-0 lead fit right in with the Homecoming tailgating.
But the game is four quarters, you still need an offense, and Penn State -- clearly missing the injured Koby Howard -- didn't have one.
Nonetheless, their defense seemingly was doing enough, and when Tony Rojas' interception put the Lions at the PSU 45 with eight minutes to play, leading 20-10, victory seemed assured.
Except, again, the offense not only couldn't score but couldn't take time off the clock.
"When you have a momentum swing like that, we have to take advantage," running back James Peoples, who led a pedestrian run game with 67 yards on 14 carries, said.
Without help, the defense finally buckled.
"It's team football at the end of the day," safety Jeremiah Cooper said. "When we're struggling, the offense brings us up, and when they're struggling, they expect us to bring them up. We still love the offense. They didn't have their day today, but I know they're going to bounce back, and at the end of the day, we still let them score. So, it's not on them. It's on us."
Campbell generously praised quarterback Rocco Becht, who completed 12-of-29 for just 129 yards. He started 4-for-5 and finished 8-of-24. He had three passes deflected at the line of scrimmage, and one was intercepted.
"Some of our issues were protection things," Campbell said. "I felt Rocco played a really good game for the most part."
Though Wisconsin, particularly quarterback Colton Joseph, showed impressive character, the Badgers were doing a good job of beating themselves much of the time.
They were intercepted three times and committed nine penalties, including five false starts and somehow overcame four flags on their game-winning drive.
Becht was asked about the big stage -- the first conference game, at night, in a much bigger venue than the Iowa State players were accustomed.
"I don't think that has anything to do with it," he said. "We've all been here. We're all older guys on the team. We have played in big games before."
Maybe so, but neither the players nor the coaching staff acted like it.
"We have to have significant improvement to be the team we need to be," Campbell said. "What it looked like tonight won't cut it, for sure."
Rudel can be reached at nrudel@altoonamirror.com.