Penn State will look to get back on track when it hosts Northwestern in Beaver Stadium on Saturday for its annual homecoming game.
The Nittany Lions are coming off a pair of tough losses, including a double-overtime top-10 thriller against Oregon and a road upset as a 24.5-point favorite over UCLA.
There’s not much time to dwell on the past, as the Wildcats visit at 3-2 and hungry for their first win in State College in over a decade.
Here’s a look at Northwestern before Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. clash.
Head coach:
The Wildcats are led by David Braun, who first took over as interim coach in 2023 after Pat Fitzgerald’s termination, but he earned the full-time job after rallying the team to an 8-5 record after it was left for dead.
Last year the team fell back to Earth at 4-8, including just a 2-7 mark in Big Ten play. This year, Northwestern is off to a 3-2 start, giving Braun a 15-15 overall record in his first head coaching role.
Prior to this, Braun was the defensive coordinator for North Dakota State from 2019-2022, winning two FCS national championships. He also had gigs with Northern Iowa, UC Davis, Winona State and Culver-Stockton on the defensive side of the ball.
Coordinators:
Zach Lujan heads the offensive attack for the Wildcats, as well as serving as the team’s quarterbacks coach. He’s held both titles since arriving last season.
Lujan also hails from the FCS ranks, albeit across the border from Braun, coaching at South Dakota State from 2017-2023 in various roles. He played three seasons there as a quarterback before beginning as a graduate assistant and working up to the offensive coordinator, winning the national championship in 2023.
Lujan’s offense runs the ball relatively well but produces the second fewest passing yards per game in the Big Ten at 185, only ahead of Iowa.
Defensive coordinator Tim McGarigle, a former Northwestern linebacker, is in his second season as defensive coordinator and eighth season as linebackers coach. He previously worked with Western Michigan, Illinois and the Green Bay Packers in the NFL.
The strength of the unit is its pass defense, holding opponents to just 165 yards per game, though they surrender 146.8 on the ground.
Paul Creighton, a former walk-on tight end and fullback at Colorado, is in his second season as special teams coordinator and also holds the title of linebackers coach. Previously, he was with Washington, Fresno State, UC Davis, Colorado State University-Pueblo and Auburn.
The Wildcats have a mediocre kicking and punting game but are well below average on both kick and punt returns compared to the national average.
Standout players:
Penn State head coach James Franklin said his staff has been impressed by quarterback Preston Stone, running back Caleb Komolafe, wide receiver Griffin Wilde, defensive backs Braden Turner and Robert Fitzgerald, defensive lineman Aidan Hubbard and linebacker Mac Uihlein.
Stone was the Week 1 starter for SMU last season but lost the job to Kevin Jennings, who notoriously struggled against the Nittany Lions last year in the first round of the College Football Playoff. Stone entered the transfer portal before that contest and committed to Northwestern the day of the game.
This season, he’s completed 83 of 135 passes for 918 yards, but he’s struggled to protect the ball with a 7-6 touchdown-interception ratio.
Wilde leads the team by a wide margin with 25 receptions and 375 yards, including two touchdowns. Nittany Lion cornerback A.J. Harris will likely spend most of the game guarding Wilde, who has more than twice as many receptions as the next best Wildcat.
Fitzgerald leads the team with 42 total tackles in his first season as a full-time starter, while Uihlein isn’t far behind with 34, plus a team-leading two interceptions. Uihlein, a graduate student, led the team in tackles last season with 85.
Hubbard has been a major contributor for multiple seasons and has accumulated 20 tackles for loss and 15.5 sacks through three-plus seasons at Northwestern.
Record:
The Wildcats enter with an identical record to the Nittany Lions at 3-2, including a 17-14 win over UCLA two weeks ago. Northwestern’s other wins came against Western Illinois and UL Monroe, both by a final score of 42-7.
The losses come from Tulane, a 23-3 season-opening defeat, and another mutual opponent, Oregon, by a 34-14 final score.
Series history:
The two teams have met somewhat regularly since they first clashed in 1993, Penn State’s first season in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions hold a 16-5 edge in previous meetings, including winning the last three matchups and nine of the last 11. The last Wildcat win came in 2015, and the last one in Beaver Stadium was in 2014.
Prediction: Penn State 34, Northwestern 20
Penn State is still chasing an elusive first win against the spread this season, but it’s hard to anticipate the Nittany Lions covering 22.5 points given the product on the field the last two weeks.
Northwestern may be able to move the ball on the ground against a Penn State defense that got gashed a week ago, but its passing game is lackluster and Stone hasn’t protected the ball well enough, making the group somewhat one-dimensional.
If the Nittany Lion offense picks up where it left off against the Bruins, it should have no trouble scoring on nearly every drive, even with some talented Wildcat defenders. Franklin has alluded to Kaytron Allen getting more touches, which could be just what the team needs to kick the offense up a notch.
Ultimately, Penn State holds a significant talent edge and should be able to rely on that to get the win on Saturday.
