With Penn State football coming off the bye, wide receiver Koby Howard was expected to be ready to play vs. Purdue after missing all of Big Ten play up through this point of the season. However, faith in his return slowly faded away as head coach Matt Campbell gave injury updates leading up to Saturday's contest, noting Howard was questionable and that his return for Week 9 was still up in the air.
Making matters worse for this Nittany Lion (4-4, 1-4 Big Ten) offense, wideout Chase Sowell also found his way back on the injury report. He was banged up a few times in most recent games, but ultimately got back out onto the field each time. Sowell was quarterback Rocco Becht's primary target who eventually filled Howard's shoes. Against USC and Michigan, he had 95 (avg. 23.8 per catch) and 151 (avg. 13.7) receiving yards, respectively.
On Saturday, both receivers were downgraded to out, leaving a lot of questions as to how Becht and this offense could drive down the field. The run game was consistently poor and relying almost exclusively on tight ends in the pass game was not promising.
Both the run and pass panned out better than expected, though. Campbell put trust in running back Cam Wallace to lead the charge on the ground and wideouts Zay Robinson and Amarion Jackson got their first starts of the season. The receivers weren't prominent, but the tight ends certainly picked up some of the slack with the lack of pass catcher weapons available for the game.
Rocco Becht quarterback grade for Week 9 win over Purdue: B
Campbell made it clear over the past few weeks that he will not stray from Becht under center, despite the questionable decision making, mechanics, and overall performances since conference matchups came about. On Saturday, he didn't necessarily prove Campbell right, but he also didn't prove him wrong.
Becht put together a steadier game against the Boilermakers, but there were still concerns evident for a quarterback who entered the season with the most experience in the NCAA. It doesn't matter how mediocre he's been throughout the season, expectations are still higher for him.
His pocket presence, in specific, is where his low IQ really stands out. For a fifth-year player, Becht should have a better understanding of how to escape pressure and what to do when he can't. When up 21-14 on third-and-six within field goal distance for Ryan Barker, he took a sack and got charged with intentional grounding for a loss of down. The Nittany Lions were initially within field goal range (48 yards), but Becht's poor response to pressure and decision-making in the process pushed them back. Barker had to try to and hit a 55-yarder, which was ultimately short. His career-long is 49.
Navigating pressure knocks Becht down a few pegs, but he does get some credit for reacting on his own feet better. At the end of the first quarter, Becht put Penn State back on top with a six-yard rushing score, extending the ball past the pylon and giving the Nittany Lions a 14-7 lead. He had 27 total yards on the ground on 11 carries for the evening, which still isn't great (2.5 avg.), but it's at least better by his standards.
His connection with the tight ends also remains strong. Kudos to Benjamin Brahmer (four catches, 58 yards) and Andrew Rappleyea (four catches, 45 yards, one touchdown) who led Penn State's receivers on Saturday. Without Sowell or Howard available, their presence had to be there in the pass game and Becht looked comfortable targeting them as per usual. Becht gets some props for navigating this game without those two wideouts at his disposal. He was 16-of-24 for 175 passing yards, one touchdown, and zero interceptions. Not getting picked off once also boosted Becht's grade. He can thank Wallace for sparking the run game as well and alleviating him of the pressure to put together a dominant pass game.
All-in-all, his performance was certainly better than what he put together at Michigan in Week 7, but there's just more to expect out of a senior quarterback than a 67 completion percentage and 175 passing yards vs. Purdue. Becht was stable and got the job done, but he wasn't great and there wasn't any significant improvement other than ball security to make his performance stand out.
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