What They Said After Penn State's 24-20 Loss to Wisconsin

The Nittany Lions seek to explain what went wrong against the Badgers.

Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Rocco Becht (3) runs with the ball against the Wisconsin Badgers at Beaver Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Penn State coach Matt Campbell said he's prone to getting emotional, but that didn't emerge after the Nittany Lions' 24-20 loss to Wisconsin on Saturday. Campbell maintained the same even keel at this postgame press conference that demonstrated after three wins.

Penn State blew a 17-point lead to the Badgers, its largest since giving up an 18-point advantage to Ohio State in 2017. After the game, the Nittany Lions sought to explain not only what happened but also why they're already looking ahead.

Here's what they said after Penn State's often indecipherable loss to the Badgers.

Penn State coach Matt Campbell

Penn State coach Matt Campbell on Wisconsin’s game-winning TD and his team’s 4th-quarter defense. pic.twitter.com/kar8KuvKcf

— Mark Wogenrich (@MarkWogenrich) September 27, 2026

On Wisconsin's 72-yard, game-winning touchdown: We had a guy slip on the broken play. That play, that situation is kind of the narrative of the second half. We left it to chance. We had so many opportunities to put the game away, and we just didn't take advantage of those opportunities. Obviously, that play will stick out. But the reality of it is, defensively, I thought we played a
tremendous football game. We gave ourselves every opportunity to win the football game, and we didn't take advantage as a team when we had the opportunity to do that."

On choosing to run out the clock in the first half: We can put some judgment on the head coach. I felt like we were playing such good defense there that I just didn’t want to put our team at risk. That will eat at me. Get into halftime, play great defense, get the football back and take the game over.

On quarterback Rocco Becht's performance: It'll be interesting to answer that question after you watch the videotape. But I thought Rocco made some tremendous plays. I thought he kept us in the football game. Some scrambles at the time, maybe some scrambles and throws. At least some of our issues [were] probably more so with protection things, where even that ball was tipped [for an interception], it wasn't a ball that was a bad or poor decision. It was a tipped pass. I really thought
Rocco played well."

On the offense without receiver Koby Howard: I'd be a fool to sit up here and say we didn't miss
Koby. I would also say I have great belief in the rest of our guys, and the rest of our guys had some opportunities, and they got to keep pounding away at it. Koby's a guy that we have all have great faith in and certainly are really proud of him.

Penn State quarterback Rocco Becht

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

On the game: Being up 17-0, you feel like you have the game in hand.  But at the end of the day, we didn't do enough on offense. The defense did an amazing job today getting three turnovers. We just couldn't do enough on offense and on my part to move the ball down the field and put the dagger in it.

On his self-evaluation: Not great. I’ve got to be better for the offense, I’ve got to be better for this team. I can't put us in scenarios where our backs are backed up and we’ve got to have a big play. We’ve got to continue to move the chains, stay in front of the sticks, and I didn't do my part today, so I've got to do better.

On the offense without Koby Howard: We have a lot of talent on this team, a lot of receivers and a lot of tight ends and running backs that can go out there and make plays. Again, it just wasn't our day. We have to be better.

On the decision to punt on 4th-and-1 in the fourth quarter: We definitely were [close to going for it]. And I think [Campbell] saw the defensive line all crunched up in there. That’s his decision, and we live with it. Our defense was playing well, and props to those guys for continuing to go out there and make plays and having our back. We just have to continue to have theirs.

Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell

Wisconsin Badgers head coach Luke Fickell looks on from the sideline during the first quarter against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

On the win: Well, obviously, all's well that ends well, and you know this is the hardest part about where I've kind of been the last four years of college football: just trying to figure out and find out
what you got. You know, there's so many new guys in that locker room, whether it's the 35 new guys or the 12 new starters that are transfer guys.

And you have times like this, and I don't just mean the victory, I mean being on the road, being in a hostile environment that you really kind of learn more about each other, I've been saying that all year. We're going to have to go through some things and that this is going to be a journey. I
know people are going to be frustrated with us, our guys will get frustrated with us at times,
and, as a coach, I get frustrated at times too, but this journey is about continuing to build and
decline, and I don't know that there's any tougher situation than what we were in out there
today.

On his players' resilience: To see these guys not falter, to see guys not get down on [quarterback Colton Joseph] and not give up on him; that's what makes me so proud. A win is a win, don't get me wrong. This game is about winning, and we talked about that all year long, but to see how they handled adversity, to see what they did, to see how they kept fighting, see how they didn't give in, there's a conviction that we challenged them. I challenged them to show the conviction to fight, and we learned a lot about ourselves today.

Penn State running back James Peoples

Penn State Nittany Lions running back James Peoples (1) runs with the ball during the first quarter against the Wisconsin Badgers at Beaver Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

On Penn State's decision to punt on 4th-and-1 in the fourth quarter: I wish we could gone for that 4th-and-1. There were multiple times in that game where I feel like we could have taken the momentum back, and I can't just single [out] the 4th-and-1. There were plenty of chances.

On running back coach Savon Huggins' postgame message: He said, 'What is one thing that you took from this entire week?' And I said, 'That you've got to approach every day like it's your last.' And I think, as a whole team, we can take that model and just run with it to understand that, when we come back tomorrow and we get on the film, we've got to approach every day like it's our last. Because this feeling sucks, but we probably needed it as a team and that we can come back better than before.

On why the team needed it: I think in life you learn a lot more from a loss than you do a win. 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. So we aren't going to flinch. We're just going to come back better.

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