Time and time again throughout head coach James Franklin’s tenure at Penn State, an underwhelming offensive performance spoiled an elite defensive showing, costing the team a win.
Last Saturday was the opposite, with the defense surrendering 42 points to a subpar UCLA offense that had a previous season high of 23 against UNLV. It came on the heels of an inspired performance against Oregon, where the unit allowed just three first-half points and 17 in regulation.
“We gotta look at ourselves in the mirror tonight, get back to work tomorrow, see where we need to clean up mistakes, miscommunications, everything,” linebacker Dom DeLuca said after the game.
For a unit that’s been one of the most reliable in college football across the last decade despite seeing constantly shifting personnel and four defensive coordinators, it was an uncharacteristic and shocking display of incompetence.
Penn State entered Rose Bowl Stadium with a top-10 scoring defense and a growing sense of swagger after stifling the Ducks’ talented offense, but none of that carried over. The Bruins gashed the Nittany Lions on the ground, beat them over the top, and scored on eight of their first nine drives. A UCLA offense that had struggled to find a rhythm suddenly looked surgical, while Penn State looked lost.
Perhaps the biggest reason was star linebacker Tony Rojas, the team’s second-leading tackler and one of the most dynamic defenders in the Big Ten, who didn’t suit up due to an injury sustained in practice earlier in the week. His absence cast a long shadow over a defense that suddenly couldn’t get off the field.
“Feel bad for Tony,” senior DeLuca said. “Hell of a guy, hell of a player. Losing him was hard. Next man up and we gotta play our game. We gotta play fast. We gotta be able to execute stuff.”
But there was little evidence of execution. Penn State allowed 446 total yards and looked confused in key moments like third and longs, where Bruin quarterback Nico Iamaleava scrambled for first downs on multiple occasions. Assignments were blown, gaps were abandoned and coverages broke down repeatedly — the type of errors rarely seen from a well-coached group.
After the game, players weren’t pointing fingers, but they also weren’t sugarcoating the result. Those mistakes weren’t limited to a few plays or personnel missteps. According to defensive tackle Zane Durant, the damage was rooted in something much more fundamental.
“We got to be more detailed,” Durant said. “I think the details of this game came back to bite us. We got away with them in other games … this game, we weren’t able to get away with, so I think they caught up to us.”
That slippage in preparation and focus was a recurring theme postgame. Several players pointed to a need for improved communication and attention to detail after the game.
DeLuca didn’t hide from that reality.
“Our preparation just needs to be better during the week,” he said. “Getting answers, film, asking questions to the coaches if you’re confused on something, getting clarifications on certain calls to play fast and play our game.”
Linebacker Amare Campbell took personal accountability for one of the defense’s critical breakdowns — a third-down conversion where he was assigned to spy Iamaleava but failed to hold contain.
“I would take accountability myself,” Campbell said. “It starts with accountability. Nobody pointed fingers. Everybody’s taking accountability for what happened. It’s a team. We all got to do better.”
Campbell also acknowledged how tough it was to play without the veteran leadership Rojas typically brings.
“He’s great; he’s one of our best players,” he said. “So losing a great player like him defensively definitely takes a toll. But you know, we should have got that win for Tony today, so it’s tough.”
Penn State’s defense isn’t unfamiliar with adversity. Last season, it responded to poor showing against Oregon in the Big Ten title game with three solid College Football Playoff performances. But the concern from players like DeLuca was less about one loss and more about what habits it might be revealing.
“We can’t make this a routine,” DeLuca said. “We can’t just keep on doing this. We just got to go back to work. We got to prepare. We got to ask questions where we’re confused, or even get in the film room more and make sure everyone’s on the same page.”
With tougher opponents looming, the path forward won’t get easier. The Nittany Lions know the margin for error has already shrunk to microscopic levels.
Still, for a defense that’s earned the benefit of the doubt more often than not, the response in the coming weeks may matter more than Saturday’s stumble.
“I know it hurts, it stings,” Durant said. “That’s what comes with football. But you can’t control anything else. We get back, head down, into work. No complaining, get back to work. I don’t know what else to say.”
