Penn State football searching for purpose as postseason outlook grows bleaker
Penn State walked off the field in Ohio Stadium on Saturday afternoon to a familiar refrain.
The Ohio State student section chanted “f--- Penn State” after the clock hit zero on the Nittany Lions’ 38-14 loss to the Buckeyes. Once again the program failed against OSU, a team it hasn’t beaten since 2016. That is the norm for this program over most of the last decade.
But everything else about the loss was different. This was not the game that ended title hopes, or put the Nittany Lions on the brink of playoff elimination like had happened many times before under former head coach James Franklin.
This was far worse.
Losing to the Buckeyes served as PSU’s fifth loss in a row, in a lost season — one that has left players fighting to find meaning in the final month of games.
There is pride in playing hard and trying to finish the year strong. Interim head coach Terry Smith has emphasized it and has said he’s happy with the effort put forth by his players in the two games he’s been the program’s leader. But it’s hard to deny reality; this team didn’t show the devastation that wrought previous Nittany Lions who lost in Ohio Stadium. Players who have left the field devastated after losses to the Buckeyes instead smiled Saturday and enjoyed the moment with their teammates.
Because right now that’s what they have — each other.
“Ultimately we’ve got a lot of football left to play,” safety Zakee Wheatley said. “Someone like me, who is a senior, I’m just taking it all in with my brothers. We don’t have forever to be here and be in the Penn State locker room and be able to mess around and joke around. Even competing out there today on Saturday, just really taking it all in, knowing we’ve got a lot of football left.”
There are ancillary aspects of finishing the year strong that can be helpful. Good film will help everyone — whether it’s a player entering the NFL draft, someone potentially entering the transfer portal or someone who wants to return and impress whoever the next Penn State head coach is. But that’s not the issue in times like these. That issue is emotional. It’s justifying putting in maximum effort to something that is gone.
Because every team goal is out the window for Penn State. The potential national championship season is more likely to end without any type of postseason.
It would make sense to disconnect, and just try to get to what’s next. But, for now, they’re finding their own reasons to care.
“I feel like I gotta play for the legacy of Coach Franklin,” punter Gabriel Nwosu said.. “I feel like I gotta play for Coach Terry. I feel like I gotta play for all of the coaches that have done their hardest to put me in a position to succeed. And I feel like until that gets achieved, I haven’t done my job.”
So, week in and week out, the Nittany Lions plan to keep trying. They will head back to State College and work to fix the issues facing the team right now.
And there are plenty of them.
The defense was decimated by a lethal Ohio State passing attack at all three levels of the field. The offense failed miserably in its own attempt to throw the ball vertically — something Smith emphasized as being crucial time and time again throughout the week.
“We continue to struggle in the vertical pass game,” Smith said again Saturday. “... I have to get that fixed. It’s something I have to go in and talk with the staff. And there’s no exceptions. I have to get it fixed.”
They will continue to fight to get the problem fixed. Partially because they have no other option, but partially, too, because this is a program that became process-oriented under Franklin. He emphasized going 1-0 every week and remaining in the moment to work toward a common goal.
But even that mantra, which has carried on after Franklin was fired, can be difficult to maintain.
“It’s hard,” Wheatley said about not letting his mind drift. “... But all of our coaches do a great job of making sure we focus on the right now. The future doesn’t really matter much unless I go out there and do my job right now. So be in the present, go 1-0, and be at my best at all times. That’s gonna help me for the future.”
So that’s what they will do. Every rep, every practice, every game — a chance to get better. A chance to prove something to themselves. That all of this wasn’t a lost season. That something good can come out of this iteration of Penn State football. And that there is value in playing out the final four games for everybody on the roster.
Because, right now, what other choice do they have?
This story was originally published November 1, 2025 at 6:43 PM.
