Penn State football suffered yet another loss on the 2026 season, falling 0-4 in Big Ten play and below .500 in its overall record. The Nittany Lions are now 3-4 as they enter their bye week. Michigan beat Penn State 21-18 on Saturday afternoon.
Head coach Matt Campbell has wanted to see all phases of the game take a step forward, and the first half looked like things were headed in that direction. The defense held back quarterback Bryce Underwood and the Wolverines' offense, and the offense led by quarterback Rocco Becht had a groove going regardless of what the scoreboard said.
As the game continued, things changed — particularly for the offense.
Campbell said at halftime, as reported by Jenny Dell of CBS, that he wanted to see his team execute the details better. The opposite happened, and the Nittany Lions fought from behind come the end of the fourth quarter.
Rocco Becht quarterback grade for Week 7 vs. Michigan: C-
Becht came out of the gate looking solid. He was seven-of-eight on Penn State's first possession of the game for 41 yards, spreading the ball around well as he drove the offense down the field. He helped the Nittany Lions eat up a ton of time on the clock, giving Michigan just 5:58 left of the first quarter to work with.
From the first drive of the game, though, it was clear that wide receiver Chase Sowell was the playmaker in this contest for Penn State. He made the contested catches that the Nittany Lions needed and gave the Wolverines' defensive backs a lot of trouble. Becht put the ball in the right spots, of course, allowing Sowell to make these impressive catches, but he wasn't doing anything special to help his receiver out.
This became clear once the second half struck. Penn State entered halftime up 3-0, thanks to the field goal the blue and white settled for on the first drive. Though Becht couldn't capitalize in the red zone, that was looked over considering he was still pretty accurate and making good decisions in the first half.
The first two offensive possessions for the Nittany Lions in the third quarter ended with interceptions. When they got the ball after Michigan was forced to punt on its opening, second-half drive, Becht immediately gave the Wolverines the ball back. He was late to get the ball out to receiver Brett Eskildsen, and safety Rod Moore came away with the ball at Penn State's 43-yard-line. Michigan took this opportunity and went down and scored the first touchdown of the game.
Becht wasn't done giving the Wolverines chances.
On Penn State's next possession, the offense looked hot. It looked like it found a rhythm again, brushing off the previous drive. Becht gave Sowell opportunities to come down with contested catches and Eskildsen had his moments as well. Then, at Michigan 26-yard-line, that accuracy went down the drain as Becht threw the ball directly to safety Chris Bracy. It wasn't even a situation where Becht was under pressure or the ball was tipped. He had a decent amount of time in a clean pocket and had tight end Gabe Burkle open. Becht simply gave the Wolverines the ball.
There were some bright spots to Becht's game, such as his quick decision making, targeting the right pass catchers, and moments of really good accuracy. On the two-point conversion following running back Carson Hansen's touchdown, pressure came in hot on Becht and he quickly sent over a shuttle pass to tight end Benjamin Brahmer to cut the deficit to 14-11.
The mistakes he made, on the other hand, were costly. The interceptions are obvious ones, but not even getting the ball within Sowell's general vicinity on third-and-three in the fourth quarter when Penn State was down by three is just another example of mistakes Becht can't make. He also fumbled the ball when tripped by Bracy with five minutes left of the game and had zero urgency to recover it. Michigan took over in the red zone at Penn State's 13-yard-line.
Becht had opportunities to impress, but couldn't show up. When the Nittany Lions' defense came up with a huge interception by cornerback Josiah Zayas, the offense could've capitalized on the possession and didn't. Becht and Penn State's offense settled for a punt. Michigan, though, made sure that every turnover showed up on the scoreboard.
Becht's generally decent performance was tainted by his big mistakes. Plain and simple.
He was 28-of-44 for 267 yards, one touchdown, and three turnovers (two interceptions, one fumble) on Saturday. He finished with a 64 percent completion rate and a 113.0 passer rating.
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