Three takeaways from Penn State football’s shocking 42-37 loss vs. UCLA
Penn State lost to UCLA on Saturday afternoon 42-37 in a major upset, leaving plenty of questions about the team and where it goes from here.
Here’s three takeaways from Saturday’s loss, which was played on the road in Pasadena, California.
CFP may still be possible — but is very, very unlikely
Sure, Penn State can still make the College Football Playoff. But let’s be realistic here. The Nittany Lions just lost to the worst team in the Big Ten in a game that they essentially no-showed for. And now to make the playoff they have to beat Iowa and Ohio State on the road and Indiana at home.
Yeah, not happening. This is an abysmal end to a season that was supposed to run deep into January and instead is over on the first Saturday of October after a game that was the easiest on the conference schedule. There’s little reason to believe Penn State and head coach James Franklin can turn things around in time to do anything of consequence this season, which means it’s time to think about the future of the program.
Nobody showed up
It’s one thing for the offense to struggle against Oregon for a few quarters, or for the defense to be tired at the end of the game against the Ducks. But it’s another to get your doors blown off on both sides of the ball against a UCLA team that did not lead in any of its first four games. And it’s not as if the Bruins faced four juggernauts. They couldn’t get a lead against Utah, UNLV, New Mexico and Northwestern.
Nobody on either side of the ball played particularly well, and for long stretches most of the players on the field looked disinterested in the game. For a program whose head coach spent a good portion of the time talking about not letting one loss turn into two, it sure didn’t take its own advice. Effort and execution were lacking against the Bruins — signs of a team that either doesn’t care or doesn’t believe in itself anymore.
LB Tony Rojas is sorely missed
Where Penn State goes from here will be what’s most important after this game — but it’s pretty clear that this defense is significantly worse without Tony Rojas. The starting linebacker suffered a long-term injury so this was the team’s first game without him, and with Dom DeLuca in his stead. DeLuca is a veteran who knows where to be and when, but it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t have the athleticism to get there. He was at the heart of plenty of the defense’s breakdowns against the Bruins and was often trailing UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava when he took off for big plays as a runner.
It won’t matter much the rest of the season with the playoff nearly off the table, but this defense is going to struggle without its star linebacker — even if position mate, Amare Campbell, is playing at an elite level. Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles’ group was exposed on Saturday, largely because its weakest link isn’t playing well.
This story was originally published October 4, 2025 at 6:59 PM.
