UNIVERSITY PARK — The 2026 edition of the Penn State Nittany Lion football team will take the field on Saturday, Sept. 5 against Marshall University in what may be one of the most anticipated opening games in the history of the Nittany Lions.
How the Lions got to this point with a new head coach in Matt Campbell, a revamped coaching staff with a new offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator, and a totally made-over roster, has been well documented, but now all the speculation is over.
It’s time to play.
Marshall will come into Beaver Stadium after a 5-7 season in 2025 under first-year head coach Tony Gibson. That record, however, may be a bit misleading in that the Thundering Herd lost four games by a total of just 11 points, some of them in the final minutes.
And the last two losses — 26-24 to Appalachian State and 24-19 to Georgia Southern — came in the final two games of the season.
The Herd was a team with literally a dual personality. The offense was high-powered and explosive, averaging 30.8 points per game and many of the stars in that offense will return for the 2026 season.
The most impressive is dual-threat quarterback Carlos Del Rio-Wilson, who has been named the Sun Belt Preseason Offensive Player of the Year for 2026. Last season, he threw for 2,043 yards and 17 touchdowns while completing 67% of his passes and ran 160 times for 661 more yards and six touchdowns. He can turn even broken plays into big gainers.
Running back Joshon Barbie (56 carries, 260 yards, 5 touchdowns) returns along with wide receivers De’Andre Tamarez (32 catches, 395 yards, 2 TDs), Michael Allen (12 catches, 139 yds, 1 TD) and West Virginia transfer Christian Hamilton.
Gibson has said he wants an offense that’s explosive and physical, using spread offense sets that take deep shots down the field and can set up a strong running game.
The other half of the equation is the Marshall defense.
The Thundering Herd defense ranked 108 in the country last season and gave up over 30 points per game.
In the off-season, Gibson hired highly-successful defensive coach Brad Lambert as DC and he is expected to overhaul the defense with a much more aggressive approach.
The unit does return a number of players, including All-Conference safety Daytione Smith, and much of the team’s success will be dependent on improvement on this side of the ball.
In all, Gibson feels much better about his second year at Marshall, and he said the team seems to have much more stability.
With nine players on the preseason Sun Belt Teams, he feels the Herd has much more depth and chemistry than when he started, and the coaches will be counting heavily on the returning stars.
“The season is just around the corner,” he said, “and we are going to need those guys to play well if we want to accomplish our goals in 2026.”
Penn State will arrive on Saturday as heavy favorites, but with a ton of question marks.
The Lions will start with fourth-year starting quarterback Rocco Becht, who came to the Lions with coach Campbell from Iowa State.
Becht is coming off an injury that kept him out of spring practice, but all indications are that he is 100% ready for the new season.
With his knowledge of the system, command of what the offense is trying to accomplish, and leadership qualities, he will be a major focal point in Game 1 and beyond for Penn State.
Campbell said that his play in training camp has been “elite.”
Speaking of elite, the Nittany Lions’ running backs could earn that description as well before it is all said and done.
The backs include Carson Hanson, a senior transfer from Iowa State who ran for 952 yards in 2025 for the Cyclones, James Peoples, a speedster transfer from Ohio State, and Quinton Martin, Jr., a redshirt sophomore who ran for 103 yards in the Pinstripe Bowl last year.
Also in the room are Cam Wallace, redshirt freshman Tikey Hayes and freshman D’Antae Sheffey from State College High.
The offensive line has been mentioned many times as a strength of the team, and tight ends Ben Brahmer (from Iowa State), Andrew Rappleyea, Gabe Burkle, Cooper Alexander and Finn Furmanek (also from State College High) make an almost unsurpassed position group.
The defense is anchored by linebacker Tony Rojas, cornerback Daryus Dixson and safety Jeremiah Cooper. The linebackers and defensive backfield draw high praise, but the defensive line has a number of newcomers, although the DL and DE players are reportedly all bigger and stronger than in recent years.
On special teams, top-tier kicker Ryan Barker returns, and look out for the return game with Zion Tracy, Martin and Peoples.
All said, Penn State has talent everywhere on the field and Marshall’s spread offenses and Del Rio-Wilson will be early tests for the defense.
And Brecht and the offense will have to respond to a totally new Marshall defense.
The Lions will be favorites in the game, but this will be a once-in-an-era opening game so almost anything is on the table.
Likely, as in many football games, it will come down to mistakes, turnovers and the people up front.
Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m. in Beaver Stadium.
