Penn State got the ball back in a 3-3 ballgame with 1:53 remaining in the second quarter against Temple on Saturday, and quarterback Rocco Becht calmly marched the Nittany Lions on a 10-play, 83-yard touchdown drive, reaching the end zone on a 23-yard pass to tight end Benjamin Brahmer with just eight seconds remaining.
It was an impressive display by the most experienced quarterback in the FBS, but it included a puzzling decision from the 17-year head coach Matt Campbell, who went into intermission with two timeouts in his pocket. Had Becht not completed the throw to Brahmer, the Nittany Lions would have likely had just one more shot at the end zone before needing to kick a field goal because Campbell held onto his timeouts.
However, in his postgame press conference following the 29-7 win, Campbell had an explanation for not calling a timeout, particularly after a nine-yard completion from Becht to Brahmer on the penultimate play of the drive, setting up the second-and-1 as precious seconds ticked off the clock.
“I’ll be honest with you,” Campbell said when asked about the decision, “it looked to me like we got a first down,” which would have stopped the clock to reset the chains. “And we had a great play called. I really wanted that play called because that play called was, we thought, exactly what we got. It was a two-high coverage, which is what they showed against tempo.”
“So, it was kind of like, man, do we take the timeout, or do we get the play off that we think we’re going to get versus the coverage we think we’re going to get. So, it got dicey, but obviously it worked out in our favor.”
Matt Campbell knew Penn State had a perfect play called and was right to trust his veteran QB
With a young team or an unfamiliar QB, maybe Campbell would have stopped the clock in that instance. He may have second-guessed whether his quarterback would’ve made the right play as the clock was running down or even gotten the play off in a timely manner.
That’s why it’s such an advantage that Campbell not only brought his 39-game starting quarterback with him from Ames, but also Becht’s top five receivers from last season. Campbell and his offensive coordinator, Taylor Mouser, knew Becht would get the ball out, knew Brahmer would run the right route, and so he was right to let it ride, even if he thought he was getting a stoppage from a first down.
Now, against more competitive defenses than the one Temple ran out there in Philadelphia, Penn State probably won’t be able to run the ball as frequently as it did during a two-minute drill, and will probably need to take more than just one timeout. But there will also be times he doesn’t have timeouts at his disposal, so it’s another positive sign that Becht looked so comfortable operating without stoppages.
Campbell knew the look he was getting, and it worked. It was a gamble, but those are the bets that head coaches have to make. He got this one right, and after seeing the result, it was hard to second-guess it; after hearing his explanation, it was even tougher.
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