Penn State had a glorified preseason slate to start the year. So far, Matt Campbell’s Nittany Lions have beaten up on Marshall 45-0 and sleepwalked through a 29-7 win over Temple in Philadelphia. Now, they will face the worst team on their schedule before opening up Big Ten play with Wisconsin in Week 4.
While Campbell’s arrival meant an offseason overhaul, his team has largely looked like a finished product. Still, a few questions remain as Buffalo comes to town Saturday at Beaver Stadium, especially if the Nittany Lions expect to compete for a College Football Playoff berth.
3. What will the safety rotation look like in Big Ten play?
This has been a bit of an underrated storyline for Penn State, considering the defense has allowed seven points through two games, but Penn State’s isn’t exactly settled on the back end.
Zion Tracy, who played a lot of safety for Jim Knowles last year, is back healthy and will seemingly be the primary nickel along with Josiah Zayas, so the safety rotation comes down to Marcus Neal Jr., Jeremiah Cooper, Jamison Patton, and Vaboue Toure.
Cooper has worked his way back from an injury that limited him throughout fall camp and is likely the starting free safety next to Neal, the starting strong safety. However, Patton has also played a lot of snaps at safety, so any continued clarity and continuity at that spot will be valuable in Week 3.
2. Can you stop the run with light boxes?
The D’Anton Lynn defense, with defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe, is predicated on stopping the run with stopping the run with light boxes. That’s why Malloe brought in so many 300-plus pounders at defensive tackle. However, through two weeks, and particularly against Temple, Penn State didn’t exactly accomplish that task.
Now this week, two of those 300-plus pounders are making their season debuts: Armstrong Nnodim and Alijah Carnell, so what does that added depth in the interior defensive line do for that group's ability to eat blocks and keep linebackers free?
Penn State should be able to stop Buffalo’s run game, which has 207 total yards through two games, no matter what, but doing it without allocating additional resources will be a good sign.
1. What is the problem with the run game?
Buffalo probably isn’t the worst team in the FBS. Charlotte is going to be tough to knock off that mantle this year. There could even be as many as four or five MAC teams worse than the Bulls in 2026, but Buffalo is decidedly the worst team Penn State will face this season and pretty clearly closer to No. 138 than even just the top 100.
That’s all to say that any rushing success Penn State has against Buffalo will not answer the biggest question facing this team right now: can you run the ball effectively? But with a significant opportunity to tinker as a 40-plus point favorite in Week 3, this game could be used as a place to workshop different solutions to that problem and potentially identify what the primary issue is.
When a team has as broad a problem as the run game, there is hardly just one problem and rarely one clear solution. But offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser should give carries to all four of his running backs, call different types of runs, and maybe even consider a different combination along the offensive line, though the depth probably isn’t there to justify that change long-term.
Maybe that answer to the bigger question of whether Penn State can run the ball effectively is a flat no, which would make this question difficult to answer, but Mouser and Campbell have to try before Wisconsin comes to town in Week 4.
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