For Penn State Football, Loss to Wisconsin Might Be 'What We Needed'

Before leaving Beaver Stadium last Saturday night, Penn State running back James Peoples said that the Nittany Lions "probably needed" to experience what they did in a 24-20 loss to Wisconsin. Asked why he felt that way, Peoples reflected before answering.

"I think in life you learn a lot more from a loss than you do from a win," he said. "So I mean, this is what we needed. God doesn't make mistakes, so I feel like everything happens for a reason in my life and for this team. We aren't going to flinch. We're just going to come back better."

The Nittany Lions (3-1) have one fewer day to chew on their loss to the Badgers, who scored two touchdowns in the final 3:31 to complete a dramatic comeback on Penn State's Homecoming. The loss was Penn State's first since 2017 in a game that it led by at least 17 points.

The pivot from their first loss is quick. The Nittany Lions get a short week of preparation before visiting Northwestern on Friday night, when the Wildcats will open their new Ryan Field. Northwestern bills the 35,000-seat campus stadium as the "best place to watch football in America."

And Penn State will be the first visiting team to play there, which the players believe might be a benefit rather than an obstacle.

"You could say the short week doesn't play to our favor, but I think it probably does play to our favor," Penn State linebacker Kooper Ebel said. "We're antsy to get out there. Yeah, we want to get this bad taste out of our mouth, and we're going to bring it on Friday, and we're excited to play Northwestern."

Nittany Lions want a quick turnaround

Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Rocco Becht (3) looks to throw a pass against the Wisconsin Badgers at Beaver Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Penn State played its worst offensive game of the season against Wisconsin, producing season-lows in points (13 by the offense), total yards (233), rushing yards (119) and passing yards (114). Pro Football Focus, which conducts weekly grading sessions of college teams, called this Penn State's worst performance of the season by far.

Quarterback Rocco Becht had a particularly difficult night. PFF graded him at 42.9, barely half his average in Penn State's three non-conference games. Becht threw for season-low totals in yards and completions, and his passer efficiency rating (71.8) was the lowest of his career.

Little wonder that Becht called the short week good for him and Penn State. The Nittany Lions return to practice Tuesday after two days of flim study.

"I've been in a lot of situations like this before," said Becht, a fifth-year senior who has made 43 career starts. "So for me, it's being able to lead this team and keep our heads up, because the season's not over."

Safety Jeremiah Cooper liked the idea of a short week as well, especially after his defense allowed two fourth-quarter touchdowns to the Badgers.

"It's literally the first conference game, and we've got a whole season to play," Cooper said. "So it’s just keeping our heads up. You mentioned a short week, and that's now the opportunity to show who we are."

A 'once-in-a-lifetime opportunity'

A new era of Northwestern football is underway 🏟️ @NUFBFamily takes the stage at @NewRyanField for the first time this Friday 👀 pic.twitter.com/xWisK8XUbp
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) September 28, 2026

Northwestern (2-1) also will arrive Friday night with a bitter taste to resolve. The Wildcats outscored the defending national champ Indiana Hoosiers 23-17 in the second half in nearly pulling off an upset in Bloomington. Northwestern coach David Braun didn't want to hear of that, though.

"Our guys kept battling, our coaches kept battling, but the frustrating thing was — I have all the respect for Indiana — but we beat ourselves," Braun said after the game. "We should be coming out of here with the win."

Now, the Wildcats return home for an historic moment. Northwestern is opening the new Ryan Field, a privately funded project that cost more than $870 million, on the 100th anniversary of Northwestern Stadium's opening in 1926.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our football program to open up a facility that I'd say is the best football stadium in the world," Braun told reporters in Evanston on Monday. "... It's a unique challenge in terms of making sure myself, our staff and our players are focused on the main thing, and that's preparing for a very talented and very well coached Penn State team."

For Penn State, an opportunity might arise from that. The Nittany Lions, still fuming from blowing a 17-0 lead to the Badgers, get to play road warrior. Northwestern, meanwhile, exhausted a lot of capital in taking the nation's sixth-ranked team to the limit on the road.

This also is the environment where Penn State coach Matt Campbell feels at his most certain about his 16-year philosophy.

"Adversity is what college football is about," Campbell said last Saturday. "The ability to overcome adversity and the ability to unify and rally forward. This will be a great test for us. We'll find out a lot more about ourselves here in the next six days from our coaching staff and our players."

Penn State visits Northwestern on Friday night at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on FOX.

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