Week 1 is almost here, and the anticipation is building for the start of the Matt Campbell era, but with Penn State’s soft start to the 2026 schedule, the Nittany Lions likely won’t have their first true test until Week 4, when Wisconsin comes to town.
Now, it may not play out that way, but assuming the Nittany Lions handle business as heavy favorites in Week 1, the game won’t necessarily be about a tally in the win column, but about hitting specific benchmarks to prove the offseason overhaul went to plan.
Regardless of the score, if Penn State checks these three boxes on Saturday afternoon at Beaver Stadium, Campbell and his staff should feel good about their chances of contending for a College Football Playoff spot.
3. Getting pressure without blitzing
This is a key for every defense in the history of football. If you can pressure the opposing quarterback while rushing four, you've given yourself a dramatically better chance of having a great defense. Still, like most defenses, it’s not a certainty that Penn State can, especially with the changes that new defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe made to the type of defensive tackles the team values.
Malloe wants space eaters in the middle: guys who can take on double teams in the run game and leave linebackers free to make plays. It should be a good stylistic fit with what Lynn wants to do schematically. However, 300+ pounders, except for a few rare exceptions who are destined to make many millions of dollars in the NFL, don’t tend to have much pass-rush juice.
So, where someone like Zane Durant could shoot gaps on the interior in the past, Penn State will almost exclusively be relying on its young edge rushers to get home when Lynn opts not to turn up the heat. In fairness to Yvan Kemajou, Max Granville, and the Penn State edge rotation, Lynn does turn up the heat rather often, blitzing at a 37.8% clip at USC last season, but he shouldn’t need to do much of that against Marshall.
Kemajou is a true sophomore, and Granville, who reclassified to join the Nittany Lions in 2024, is in his third season at Penn State after missing all of last year with an injury. They’re both talented, but are they ready to win consistently on the edge in the Big Ten? That remains to be seen, but they'd better check that box against Marshall.
2. Holding up in man coverage
Terry Smith stayed in Happy Valley, so most of his secondary stayed put with him. That includes Daryus Dixson and Audavion Collins, who project as Penn State’s primary outside corners this season. Both got plenty of work last season, even with A.J. Harris, who transferred to Indiana this offseason, still on the depth chart, and both played well.
However, this season will be a bit of a different beast with how much man coverage Lynn wants to play. Penn State wasn’t an overwhelmingly zone-heavy unit under Jim Knowles last season. They played everything, ranking No. 4 in the FBS by MatchQuarters’ coverage diversity score. USC ranked No. 9, so it’ll be more of the same, only with more man coverage reps mixed in.
Last season, USC played man at the 11th-highest rate in the country at 38.1%, while Penn State was No. 44. The Trojans were also No. 13 in Cover 0 rate, so Lynn, a former Penn State defensive back, isn’t afraid to leave his corners on islands, and if Dixson and Collins can’t do it against Marshall, they certainly won’t be able to against Big Ten wide receivers.
1. Keeping Rocco Becht upright
Last season, Rocco Becht dealt with not just one, but two shoulder injuries nearly the entire way for Iowa State. Now, he says he’s back to his 2024 self and entering the year at 100%, so Penn State’s rebuilt offensive line better keep him that way.
One of the main reasons to play a soft non-conference schedule, beyond presumably three easy wins, is to keep your best players healthy for the most important games of the year. Sure, they can just as easily get hurt against Marshall as they can against Michigan, but for a quarterback, he should take fewer hits, and many of the starters shouldn’t have to play into the fourth quarter.
The first part of that equation, Becht taking fewer hits, falls on an offensive line that returns just one starter from last year, Anthony Donkoh, who is moving back to right tackle after spending 2025 at right guard. Left guard Trevor Buhr is something of a returning starter as well, though he started at the same spot in Ames last season.
However, it’s a group loaded with talent. Center Brock Riker was one of the best freshmen in the Sun Belt at Texas State last year; now he’s bulked up to handle the physicality of the Big Ten. Then, at right guard and left tackle, Penn State has two former five-stars whom James Franklin recruited: Cooper Cousins and Malachi Goodman. Both are getting their first opportunity as full-time contributors, so they need to live up to that five-star billing, especially against Marshall.
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