How Penn State's Rocco Becht Turned Around His Season

After his head coach essentially testified on his behalf, Penn State quarterback Rocco Becht had trouble containing the smile. Nor did he want to. For him, Penn State's 28-25 win over Washington was the game he wanted to play all season. Finally, but not surprisingly.

"We had so much confidence going into this game," Becht said at Husky Stadium. "... Having that momentum from last week, coming off a great team win [over Purdue], we hadn’t had one of those in a while. And that confidence built over to this week. We’ve been saying the past four weeks, once we get that win, we’re going to have a ton of momentum."

Becht, who hasn't been at his best this season in road games, changed that narrative Saturday against the Huskies. He took a team teetering on the edge of another Big Ten breakdown and led it on a 14-play drive in the fourth quarter that produced no points but all the goods.

It was by far the most important scoreless drive of Penn State's season, even if Becht began it by telling the offense that he expected points. Instead, the Nittany Lions ran out nearly 8 minutes of clock, converting a late fourth down on a Becht sneak and finally finishing a one-possession game with the ball and the victory.

"I said, 'We gotta go down the field, we gotta go score,'" Becht said. "Some explicit stuff, but I’m not going to say what that was. We had to be urgent, we had to stay convicted and we had to stay together."

Becht's game was his best lesson this season that stats often hide his story. They didn't at Michigan, where Becht committed three turnovers that led to 21 Wolverines points, and they didn't at home against Wisconsin, where he was 7-for-18 in the second half.

Becht's passing numbers were fine against Washington (16-for-27, 240 yards, two touchdowns) but didn't spotlight the 32-yard throw he made to Chase Sowell in the first quarter, maybe his best this season.

The numbers didn't underscore the importance of Becht's 2-yard gain on fourth-and-1 in the first quarter, setting up his touchdown pass to Zay Robinson. And they didn't measure his critical runs on Penn State's game-ending drive, including the nervy 9-yard rush on which he took a hit to the head (that resulted in a targeting penalty) but kept going.

"I got hit and it hurt a little bit, and then I got back up and made sure to stay calm and go onto the next play and kind of breathe a little bit," Becht said matter-of-factly about the play.

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Matt Campbell speaks with quarterback Rocco Becht (3) vs. the Washington Huskies. — Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Matt Campbell speaks with quarterback Rocco Becht (3) during the fourth quarter against the Washington Huskies at Husky Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Campbell was more animated. He has played defense attorney for his fifth-year quarterback all season and made his closing argument Saturday at Washington. For Campbell, it was a major statement.

"Hopefully the writing on the quarterback will be a lot better today than maybe it has been," Campbell said. "But the reality is, that guy gives you poise. That's why that guy's really special. When it matters the most, that guy always gives you a chance to win the game. He has all year, and he did it again tonight."

Becht was among the many Penn State offensive players who hit reset during the team's bye week. After the meltdown at Michigan, Becht studied his play to find the lapses and weaknesses. He has always been an uneven quarterback who plays through streaks and slides, but this season he had not delivered the exclamation point in the big moment.

That he didn't throw a game-winning touchdown pass didn't matter. The drive he led, with juice from his offensive line and running back Carson Hansen, to close the game was the reason Campbell wanted Becht to join him at Penn State from Iowa State.

"I thought his veteranness, his poise, [he] did an unbelievable job in that critical moment there," Campbell said.

After the game, Becht wanted people to know how different this team is now, particularly on offense. He kept coming back to one word.

We just came out confident, we came out with a sense of urgency," he said. "We had to fly six hours and come out here and demand a win. It was us against everyone. That’s our mentality every single week. We just came out confident, and that’s how we executed in the first half. [Washington] made changes in the second half, but we were still confident and stayed in it until the end of that drive and ended it on our terms."

His last message before getting on the flight home. Penn State's last drive was "the definition of a team."

"Coach Campbell says it a lot, and he said it the past couple weeks: We were still trying to figure out how to be a team," Becht said. "And after that bye week, into the Purdue week and into this week, we’re finally getting a team win. ... I think that's what you’re seeing these past two weeks."

Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Rocco Becht (3) runs the ball vs. the Washington Huskies at Husky Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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