Well, that didn't go the way Penn State needed it to. Northwestern beat them 34-13 on Friday, and it wasn't really a contest after the first quarter. 506 yards of offense for the Wildcats, 413 of it just running the ball, against a Penn State defense that was supposed to be one of the stingier run defenses in the country this year.
Up 24-7 at the half. Never really in doubt after that.
Two guys did basically all the damage here. Komolafe, 188 yards, a career high, plus a touchdown. Himon right behind him, 162 yards and two scores of his own. That's 350 yards combined, and it made them the first Big Ten running back pair in recent memory to each clear 100 yards in the same game. Northwestern hadn't had two 150-yard rushers in one game since 2012, for what it's worth.
Himon broke off a 47-yarder early, which actually backed his own team up near the goal line, but it got things moving anyway. He came back later with a 36-yard run, then scored two plays after that on a 38-yarder. That was basically the whole night in miniature.
Penn State just couldn't stop any of it. 48 rushing yards total for the game, their worst of the season, while Northwestern was already up 278-139 in total yards by halftime.
Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images
Quarterback Aidan Chiles scored twice himself, a short keeper early to make it 10-0, then a 2-yard sneak late in the fourth that put a bow on things. Penn State did cut it to 10-7 at one point on an 8-yard run from Carson Hansen, but Northwestern scored right back, and from there the gap only widened.
Braydon Brus had a monster game on defense, nine tackles, a sack, a tackle for loss, a pass breakup, and an interception. Robert Fitzgerald grabbed his own pick late that pretty much shut the door.
Penn State's offense finished with 291 total yards and didn't score again until a Chase Sowell touchdown catch with under eight minutes to go, by which point it was 31-7 and nobody watching thought there was a comeback coming.
Second blowout loss in a row for Penn State now. They blew a 17-0 lead against Wisconsin last week and lost 24-20. Two games like that back to back, for a team that came into the year with real expectations, is a bad place to be in before October's even halfway done.
There's a wrinkle that makes this one hurt extra. Northwestern was the team that basically ended James Franklin's time as head coach last October. Now, almost a year to the day later, they just handed his successor's team its worst loss yet. Nobody's calling for a firing after one game, but this is starting to feel like a second straight season going sideways before November gets here.
Photo: Northwestern Athletics
Photo: Northwestern Athletics
This game meant more to Northwestern than just a win over a big-name opponent. It's their first game in a brand new $875 million stadium, and they made it count, building on an already solid start to conference play that included beating Indiana the week before.
3-1 overall, 1-1 in the Big Ten, and Northwestern's suddenly one of the more interesting stories in the conference this year. Nobody expected this much, this early.
Penn State's back home next for a White Out game against USC that just got a lot more important than it was supposed to be. Lose that one too and the questions get loud fast. Northwestern moves on to Ball State, riding a win nobody really saw coming a few weeks back.
