Penn State vs. Northwestern: Can the Nittany Lions bounce back after UCLA loss?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Penn State hosts Northwestern in Week 7 after a morale-shaking loss to UCLA.
- Defense must rebound and scheme, offense must sustain drives to regain trust.
- Fan unrest could intensify; a clear win would stabilize leadership and trajectory.
Penn State plays its third Big Ten game of the 2025 regular season Saturday afternoon in Beaver Stadium. The Nittany Lions will play the Northwestern Wildcats in Week 7 of the college football season in the program’s first game since losing to UCLA. Here are some final thoughts and predictions ahead of the matchup.
Now or never
This is a team with its back against the wall, with no room for error if it wants to achieve its goals. Some will say those are out the window, but Penn State can still make the College Football Playoff if it wins out. That being said, odds are strongly against the Nittany Lions going 7-0 the rest of the way because of how difficult their schedule is. Still, if it’s going to happen, it has to start now and with an impressive performance that will make not just the fans, but the college football world believe in what this team can accomplish. This team went from being the preseason No. 2 in the country to being unranked less than halfway through the season.
That drastic of a fall off can send a shock to the system and it should for Penn State. The entire defense no-showed against UCLA, and will have to prove that game was a blip rather than what’s to come. The offense finally took a step forward against the Bruins, but needs to show it can continue improving and have the type of impact it was expected to heading into the season. It’s now or never for this team and potentially this program under the current regime. A strong response Saturday will help, but not as much as a weak one will harm the Nittany Lions moving forward.
Does anything change?
It will be interesting to see if there are any tangible changes when it comes to playing time and scheme for Penn State this Saturday. There are several spots worth monitoring — the offensive line, the running back workloads, the wide receivers and the linebackers. Most of those are fairly straightforward.
On the offensive line it’s about the right side, where Anthony Donkoh has played guard and Nolan Rucci has played tackle most of the season. Donkoh has been banged up recently but did get time at tackle in Rucci’s stead against UCLA. It’s possible the best combination is Donkoh at tackle with T.J. Shanahan playing guard, given some of Rucci’s struggles this season. Running back may be the most high-profile position that gets monitored, especially because Nick Singleton has received more touches than Kaytron Allen this season, despite the latter outplaying the former. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see that flip Saturday.
Wide receiver and linebacker are fairly similar: Will young players step into larger roles? At receiver, Tyseer Denmark and Koby Howard have seen very few reps this season, but both present more upside than someone like Kyron Hudson. Getting Denmark in would be more difficult, since he’s primarily a slot receiver and Hudson plays outside. At linebacker, Dom DeLuca struggled mightily against UCLA, which could open the door for the likes of Keon Wylie, Alex Tatsch and Cam Smith. Wylie has had struggles of his own, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if one of the latter two — both true freshman who could still redshirt — saw an increase in reps.
What is the atmosphere like?
The energy in the stadium may be unlike any other in nearly a decade at Penn State. The fan base is angry and frustrated that a team that had national title aspirations is now 3-2 with an embarrassing loss to a UCLA team that hasn’t led in any of its other four games this season. Odds are head coach James Franklin will be booed. The players might be too. And if the team struggles, those boos will only get louder. Undoubtedly, there will be chants of “Fire Franklin” — they popped up from the student section in the game against Oregon — and those will expand to around the stadium if Northwestern takes any type of lead.
The last time Beaver Stadium had that kind of negative atmosphere — one you could predict heading into the matchup — was in 2016 when the Nittany Lions played Minnesota. The Gophers led 13-3 at halftime, with Penn State getting booed as it went into the locker room. Of course, the Nittany Lions came back to win that game, knocked off Ohio State a few weeks later and went on to win the Big Ten title. That’s the type of heroic comeback this team will need, too, with seven straight wins to end the year necessary for it to make the playoff. If the fans in Beaver Stadium have an inkling that this game is more of the same from the UCLA matchup, it could be as negative of an atmosphere as the venue has seen toward the home team.
Final predictions
Penn State 24, Northwestern 13: This game could get weird with how Penn State has played this season — and how much tension there is going to be coming from the stands — but I still expect the Nittany Lions to win. This remains a very talented team that should be able to overpower Northwestern, even if it doesn’t look pretty.
MVP: Devonte Ross. I went with Kaytron Allen last week and Penn State gave him fewer touches than Nick Singleton. It would make sense to go with him again, but it feels like a trap given his workload this year. I’ll go with Ross instead, who has been the best receiver on the team this year, and say he has six catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns in the game.
The last word
Penn State head coach James Franklin on if his belief in what he can achieve at Penn State has been shaken after the losses to Oregon and UCLA:
“I believe in Penn State. I believe in our players. I believe in the men in the Lasch Building, men and women in the Lasch Building, and I believe in myself. Obviously after the last two games we’re going to get these types of questions. I get it. But, again, when you look at the complete picture, which right now no one wants to talk about; we want to talk about what just happened and the games we just played. I get that, but I need to make sure that everybody within the Lasch Building keeps everything in perspective. We get this fixed, move forward, find a way to beat Northwestern. As you can imagine, we’re as motivated as we’ve ever been to do that.”
