Chase Sowell Shines in Penn State’s Loss to Michigan: ‘He Played Phenomenal’

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — On the opening play of the second quarter during Saturday’s loss to Michigan, Penn State quarterback Rocco Becht found wide receiver Chase Sowell streaking across the middle of the field for a 13-yard pickup.

During the tackle, Sowell was rolled up on by Wolverine cornerback Jyaire Hill and was tended to before limping off the field and into the medical tent. Sowell said after the game he thought it was a “dirty tackle” and referenced the hip-drop tackles that were recently banned in the NFL, but he added that he spoke to Hill after the play and there were “no hard feelings.”

After emerging and briefly testing out his ankle on the sideline, Sowell returned to the game and immediately hauled in a 26-yarder down the right sideline on his first play back.

“I think I was just trying to find a way to get the momentum going and find ways to get our spark back, get that swagger,” Sowell said. “That was something I was trying to feed into the offense.”

That sequence — first down, injury, first down — epitomized the fifth-year wide receiver’s performance in Michigan Stadium, which featured a career-best 11 receptions, blowing out his previous high of seven.

And against a Wolverine defense that entered the game allowing just 146.8 passing yards per game, Sowell surpassed that with 151 by himself on the day.

“I would say give me the ball every time, but that’s so unrealistic,” Sowell said after the 21-18 loss. “It’s hard to explain. It’s just a mindset that you go in.”

Sowell entered the matchup as a “game-time decision” on the team’s pregame availability report after some lingering effects of last week’s game — a 31-23 loss to USC where he caught four passes for 95 yards — and was dealing with his ankle for much of the remainder of the game.

At less than 100%, Sowell also battled through lots of contact from defensive backs to make critical catches, showing a grittiness this year’s Nittany Lion squad has lacked at times. But in the end, Penn State dropped a fourth consecutive contest to open up Big Ten play, falling below .500 for the first time this season at 3-4.

“Very frustrating regardless of what I did,” Sowell said. “I always feel like I can do more to help the team. I like to take accountability, I know a lot of guys on this offense take accountability … regardless of what you did on the field, you always feel like you could do a little bit more.”

Sowell accounted for more than half of the team’s passing yards (57%) and nearly half of the team’s total offense (45%). 

“(Sowell) played phenomenal,” running back Carson Hansen said. “He had a great performance out there. He was catching whatever was thrown at him. I love that dude, and he puts so much time and effort into it, and it’s paying off for him and it was pretty cool to see him go out there and perform at a high level.”

For Sowell, who won’t be fully satisfied until his stat lines also include a “W” next to them, the key to turning losses into wins comes down to maintaining the small details for four full quarters. 

Penn State held a 3-0 lead over Michigan entering the second half but stumbled, including three turnovers from Becht and some explosive plays surrendered defensively. The Nittany Lions were previously in close games against USC (down 24-23 in the fourth quarter) and Wisconsin (up 20-10 with under seven minutes) and couldn’t pull them out.

“Right now we’re still trying to figure out how to put it all together,” Sowell said. “But the best thing we can do is stay together and the leaders keep leading from the front.”