What We Learned About What Went Wrong in Penn State's Loss to USC

STATE COLLEGE | Penn State wide receiver Brett Eskildsen caught a 20-yard pass from quarterback Rocco Becht near the end of the fourth quarter before the ball slipped from his grasp and fell to the wet grass at Beaver Stadium.

After USC jumped on the loose ball, Eskildsen popped up, adjusted his helmet and walked to the sideline. A somber way to essentially end the game.

Eskildsen’s fumble and three ensuing first downs by USC — one by a Penn State defensive delay of game penalty — iced the game and sent a record crowd of 114,419 home disappointed, as the Nittany Lions fell 31-23 in the first White Out game under head coach Matt Campbell.

We continued to learn more about the Nittany Lions in their second consecutive White Out loss, notably a defense that has struggled for nine straight quarters.

Penn State’s defense can’t stop anyone

USC Trojans wide receiver Kayden Dixon-Wyatt (17) catches a touchdown pass against the Penn State Nittany Lions. — USC Trojans wide receiver Kayden Dixon-Wyatt (17) catches a touchdown pass against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

USC quarterback Jayden Maiava stood sound in the pocket four minutes into the fourth quarter. After scanning the defense, unpressured and untouched, Maiava loaded back and fired a pass to wide receiver Kayden Dixon-Wyatt on a crossing route for a 10-yard touchdown. It was another three-man rush that Penn State defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn sent Maiava’s way, which seemingly was ineffective all night.

That touchdown was the game-winner for USC and it exemplified the Nittany Lions’ night. Maiava picked apart Penn State’s defense with all the time in the world in the pocket.

The Trojans’ quarterback went 21-for-33 for 301 passing yards and three touchdowns. He had his way with a Nittany Lions secondary that ranked second nationally entering the game, according to Pro Football Focus.

The defense had no answer for Maiava, just as it had no answer for Northwestern’s run game last week and couldn’t stop Wisconsin’s offense in the fourth quarter of Week 4.

“I thought the biggest killers were some of the third-down opportunities that we weren't able to finish on,” Penn State coach Campbell said. “You're talking third-and-10, third-and-12, third-and-13 opportunities. Getting [USC] to those points and not finishing, those were the killers. … You think about this game; it's those third-and-long situations. You bust your tail to get to that point.”

In most, if not all, of the third-and-long situations Campbell referenced, Lynn rushed three linemen and dropped eight players into coverage. Maiava was 5-for-8 in those circumstances and seemed to play better with more time in the pocket, regardless of how many Nittany Lions were in coverage.

Campbell said a big reason for those calls was Penn State’s attempt to disguise coverage, “especially post-snap.” Typically, the team lined up with four defensive linemen and a defensive end dropped into coverage. It didn’t work.

“Those situations, especially against who those guys are offensively, they spread you out,” Campbell said. “They're going to try to get their athletes in space, and from our end of it, how multiple could we be in the football game to try to play man, but not sit man the whole football game, and try to help our DBs out.

“That was really our thought process going into it. When you talk about the pressure piece of it, we're going to have to continue to find ways to get creative. That's an area for us, especially in those third down situations [we need to improve]. … We got to find a different way to be able to get off the field on third down.”

Rocco Becht got some of his mojo back

Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Rocco Becht (3) throws a pass against the USC Trojans at Beaver Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Becht seemed to finally unlock his deep ball against USC, which has been almost nonexistent since star wide receiver Koby Howard went down with an injury after Week 3. The quarterback hit receiver Chase Sowell for gains of 37 and 47 in the first half and played his best game of the Big Ten slate.

Becht was 3-for-3 for 102 yards on first-half attempts of at least 15 yards and finished 4-for-6 in that category. Overall, he was 21-of-32 for 289 yards, one touchdown and a 151.8 passer rating. Not bad.

But it was still an inconsistent game for Becht, who helped his offense score 17 points in the first half after throwing for 175 yards and a touchdown on an 80-percent clip. He had just 114 yards on 52.9-percent throwing the rest of the way, and the offense failed to score a touchdown in the final two quarters.

“The growth we made offensively is we played at a better level tonight that allowed him to play the style of quarterback that Rocco, when he's playing great football, is playing,” Campbell said. “I thought with the pocket at times, I thought he was really comfortable in the drop-back passing game.

“He used his feet a couple times to get himself out of damage. So I thought Rocco certainly gave us every opportunity … to be successful in the game. I thought we found a rhythm that we want to play in, and that we need to continue to move forward in for sure.”

USC’s Lincoln Riley outcoached Campbell

USC coach Lincoln Riley after the Trojans' 31-23 win over Penn State: "Nobody in the world gave us a chance to come in and win this game, and we did it. We did it our way." pic.twitter.com/Zq7BqxDsCy
— Mark Wogenrich (@MarkWogenrich) October 11, 2026

Penn State’s defense made a monumental third-down stop with just over 5 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. But USC kept its offense on the field, which caught the Nittany Lions’ coaching staff off guard. Campbell reluctantly burned his final timeout, and Riley sent on his punting unit.

Campbell said postgame that Penn State had its punt-safe group on the field, so he didn’t want to risk anything, ensuring the team got the football with a chance to tie the game.

That was Campbell’s most important miscue, but it was one of several against USC. Campbell also mishandled several instances regarding timeouts and substitutions.

The Penn State coach went into the two-minute drill at the end of the first half with one timeout and the final offensive drive of the game with none. As for why he burned his timeouts, two came from late substitutions. The Trojans took their time doing the same until the play clock waned and Campbell had no other choice.

“There were a couple goofy moments in the game,” Campbell said. “The first one in the first half, with the timeout situation, we didn't get great clarity. The official went down, and we got to the point where the ball was in the red zone, and they started the 25-second clock, but they didn't announce it. So we took the timeout when we could because we would have had a 5-yard penalty there.

“... I forget exactly what the other one was in the second half, but we ended up taking the timeout. I think it was a substitution situation where that was on the coaching piece of it, and that was a substitution error.”

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