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Barry Odom’s Purdue Boilermakers will look to right the ship this fall. After a 2-10 season, Purdue needs a turnaround in the worst way. A formidable schedule awaits Purdue, which seeks its first Power Four win since 2023.
Over the summer, GoldandBlack.com will preview the 12 opponents that Purdue will line up with. Today, we continue the series with a glance at the new-look Penn State Nittany Lions with the help of Nate Bauer from On3’s Blue and White Illustrated.
The overview
There are remnants of the Penn State football program that entered the 2025 season ranked as the nation’s No. 2 team, but not many. Mainstays James Franklin, Drew Allar, Kaytron Allen, Nick Singleton, Drew Shelton, Vega Ioane, Zakee Wheatley, and Dani Dennis-Sutton are out. Matt Campbell, Rocco Becht, Carson Hansen, Brett Eskildsen, Chase Sowell, Marcus Neal, and Kooper Ebel, among many others, are in. And among the notable holdovers, linebacker Tony Rojas and offensive lineman Anthony Donkoh are the most experienced.
The result is a fresh slate and a series of unknowns that can be framed optimistically or pessimistically depending on your perspective. Facing a reasonably accessible Big Ten conference schedule and one of the lightest non-conference slates in college football, the Nittany Lions won’t enter preseason camp as a College Football Playoff contender. Still, they might play themselves into an at-large participant by season’s end.
Name to know: offense
There are many, but none will be more influential to Penn State’s successes or shortcomings this season than Becht. Entering his fifth year of college football, Becht is at a career crossroads after a roller coaster over the past two seasons. In 2024, he was the sparkplug that helped lead Iowa State to a surprise appearance in the Big 12 Championship Game, finishing the campaign with an 11-3 record. Last year, that momentum was upended by a series of injuries he and multiple teammates sustained. After jumping out to a 5-0 start, a four-game slide – three decided by a single possession – derailed the Cyclones’ season. Afterward, he required surgery that demanded a lengthy rehabilitation and time missed during winter workouts and spring practices.
Nonetheless, when Campbell took the Penn State job, his bond with Becht led to a reunion in Happy Valley that is expected to set the foundation for the future. Becht is Campbell’s on-field, in-locker-room representative of what the Nittany Lions are supposed to stand for as a team: the work ethic that goes into their performances as players and how they’re supposed to play.
Over three years as a starter, Becht has built a resume of gutsy play and is backed by the wins that came with it. If Penn State wants to get off on the right foot under Campbell, the entire program will be counting on Becht to set that standard and deliver the best version of himself this season.
Name to know: defense
There are other possibilities to consider here, too, but Rojas returns to the role he prematurely left during the 2025 season. Then, coming off a nagging shoulder injury that hampered his performance through the Nittany Lions’ 2024 run to the College Football Playoff semifinal round, he built his way into becoming an impactful, dynamic linebacker through the first four games last season. That momentum came to an abrupt end when he suffered an initial injury setback in the first half of Penn State’s loss to Oregon at Beaver Stadium the last week in September, which then derailed completely when he suffered a season-ending knee injury at practice the following Tuesday.
What had been the initial makings of a standout junior season – one that he anticipated would send him to the NFL – instead turned into a nightmare for Rojas, the Nittany Lions’ defense, and the program as a whole. Following his injury, Penn State traveled to winless UCLA and lost, then followed the stunning setback with another to Northwestern at Northwestern. The slide doomed the 12-year tenure of James Franklin, and the impact of Rojas’ absence played no small part in how it all unraveled.
Now healthy, or at least well on his way back to being at his best, he’ll play a huge role in how the Nittany Lions fare defensively this season.
Biggest question
There are two, but they work in tandem as Penn State gets closer to 2026.
The first is how this team will coalesce when the games start. Making a conscious effort to unify a roster and coaching staff that were radically transformed from last season, Campbell spent considerable time trying to build a team. A fine and worthy sentiment; only the season itself will reveal the dividends of that effort. How will this group respond when leadership and selflessness are needed, but pointing fingers might be easier?
The second is how challenging the schedule really is. For all of the conversation this offseason about the ease of Penn State’s path – avoiding all three of the Big Ten’s power tier of Ohio State, Oregon, and Indiana – the games have actually to be played. That means a full slate against teams that are considered similar in quality, starting with Southern Cal at Beaver Stadium, Michigan on the road, and Washington on the road, in an eventful few weeks in the middle of the season.
Challenges inevitably are coming. The extent of those challenges and how Penn State responds to them will say everything about the eventual outcomes of the 2026 season.
Key newcomer
Technically, Malachi Goodman has been in the program for a year already. But he didn’t play a single snap in his first season on campus. Now, he’s due to be the Nittany Lions’ starting left tackle as only a redshirt freshman.
In every sense, expectations could not be higher for Goodman. He was the marquee addition of Penn State’s recruiting Class of 2025 and has impressed at every turn through the past year. The catch is that he needs to convert practice performances, and his considerable athletic gifts, into on-field production against Big Ten opponents.
The distinction is that this is not a “ready or not” situation for the Nittany Lions. There are other options available, but it’s Goodman’s year to shine, and Penn State fully anticipates that he will.
Early outlook on Purdue vs. Penn State
One must travel back to 2004 to find the last time Purdue defeated Penn State. The Kyle Orton-led Boilermakers survived a scare in Beaver Stadium to move to 5-0 on the season. Since joining the Big Ten, the Nittany Lions hold a 17-2 advantage against Purdue. Suffice to say, Purdue will face long odds in State College. Both teams will enjoy their bye week ahead of this contest, so rest doesn’t project to factor into the result. Massey Ratings give Penn State a 94% chance of victory entering the season.
2026 Penn State expectations
For as much of a reputation as Franklin built for reliability and consistency during his tenure, there were exceptions to the trajectory. The Nittany Lions first surprised by turning a 2-2 start into a Big Ten Championship in 2016. That run met an uneventful end when high hopes for 2018 landed with a thud for Trace McSorley’s senior season. Another surprise arrived with an 11-2 campaign in 2019 capped by another NY6 bowl win, only to see it shatter against the restrictions of 2020 with a 5-4 record, followed by another 7-5 roller coaster in 2021. Since then, the Nittany Lions won a Rose Bowl in 2022, went 10-3 in 2023, and reached the CFP semifinals in 2024, going a combined 0-8 against Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, and Notre Dame.
With Campbell now at the helm, rebuilding a team that blends some of the best of Penn State’s returning players with the best of Iowa State’s returning players, and precision transfer portal additions from the broader college football landscape, expectations are varied. The boost from the schedule-makers should ease the transition, making a winning record all but assured, eight or nine wins seemingly probable, and 10 or 11 wins possible.
2026 opponent previews: Indiana State | Wake Forest | UCLA | Notre Dame | Illinois | Minnesota | Washington
