Stock Up, Stock Down (9.14.26)

Rocco Becht

Quarterback play around these parts is always an interesting discussion because Penn State has pretty much had “solid-to-good” for the last decade:

• Trace McSorley averaged 25 TDs and 8.3 INTs on 59.6% completion rate
• Sean Clifford averaged 21 TDs and 7.8 INTs on 61.4% completion rate
• Drew Allar averaged 24.5 TDs and 5 INTs on 63.4% completion rate

Over a 10-ish-year span, that’s rather extraordinary consistency, but it also left Penn State fans wanting more. Whether it was Trace or Cliff or Drew, none of those guys took massive strides between their first year starting and final year starting. It basically was you get what you see: a good quarterback who’s capable of winning you a lot of games, but in the end, not someone who is a first-team All-Big Ten player or All-American type.

I still doubt Rocco Becht is going to be much different than the above, but I have to say through two games, I’m really impressed by him. Yes, it’s *just* Marshall and Temple, but so far we are looking at 7 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, a 75.6% completion rate, and 270 yards-per-game in what has basically amounted to 6 quarters of play.

Beyond the stats, Rocco is passing the eye test. He’s a redshirt senior quarterback that looks like a redshirt senior quarterback with his understanding of the offense and overall acumen of the position. He dictates the pace of play, and doesn’t get rattled or seems frazzled. Oh, and he fires lasers like this one.

Rocco had 26 interceptions the last 3 seasons, and with throws like that into the tightest windows, I imagine they will be coming. But, man, I’ve just really enjoyed watching the way he plays the game. There’s a confidence — and dare I say moxie — he plays with that’s been fun through 2 games.

Kamario Taylor

Speaking of quarterbacks that are fun to watch, Mississippi State has themselves a hell of a QB in Kamario Taylor. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Taylor opened the season with 354 passing yards, 59 rushing yards, 4 passing touchdowns, and 1 rushing touchdown against UL-Monroe, and he looked just as impressive against Minnesota.

In Minneapolis (not the easiest place to play!!), Taylor threw for 227 yards and 3 touchdowns and ran for another 86 yards en route to leading the Bulldogs to a 38-13 shellacking of the Golden Gophers.

This is generally looked at as a very strong year for college quarterbacks with the likes of Arch Manning, Dante Moore, Julian Sayin, CJ Carr, Darian Mensah, Trinidad Chambliss, Sam Leavitt, Jayden Maiva, etc. all being upperclassmen in their “primes.” But after watching Taylor, I’m not sure how many quarterbacks I’d take before him. He is what everyone thought Bryce Underwood would be — a super athlete that can make all and every throw.

Penn State Running Backs

We were spoiled the last 4 years, weren’t we? Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton broke out right away as freshman and we had those guys for 50+ games. They weren’t always perfect — with each going through games (sometimes seasons) of struggles — but you don’t run for 7,641 yards without being two very talented backs.

There was always going to be a “welcome back to reality” moment for Penn State fans, and I think we found it. Through two games, the running backs — Carson Hansen, James Peoples, Cam Wallace, and Quinton Martin — have been…ordinary? They averaged 4 yards-per-carry against Marshall and 4.7 yards-per-carry against Temple, numbers that are low because they are lacking the “explosive” runs. Hansen’s longest run on 30 carries is 13 yards. Peoples’ longest run on 15 carries is 12 yards. Cam Wallace’s on 12 carries is 16 yards. And Quinton Martin’s on 10 carries is 9 yards.

The good news for the “this is going to be like the 2021 rushing attack, isn’t it?” group is that I think this offensive line is actually doing a pretty job of run blocking. These guys aren’t having to dance like Saquon Barkley just to get back to the line of scrimmage. There are holes to hit and there’s a lot of 3-6 yard gains. The problem is that, through two games, the two lead backs (sans Peoples’ sick hurdle) just aren’t making people miss. Those 5-yard runs could be 20+ yards, but they aren’t breaking that one tackle that could really open things up.

I’d love to see Cam Wallace and/or Quinton Martin get a few more shots. They (see: Wallace) combined for just one carry against Temple. But I’m not sure there’s a running back in this group that is a real game-changer.

Dan Lanning

It is never good when you are a head coach and I start to see this pop up on my timeline:

Nor is it good when I type in “Penn State 2025” and it is filled with this:

Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks are stuck in a bad way, folks. After barely escaping against Boise State, almost everyone expected the Ducks to exercise the demons against an Oklahoma State team that was fresh off a 24-10 defeat against Tulsa. That, uh, didn’t quite happen as Oregon lost 39-31 despite being 23.5-point favorites.

Yikes.

College football is funny because everything about the sport right now is set up for them. They have a billionaire alum who is happy to back up the brink trucks to pay players. They hired the hotshot coordinator who cut his teeth under Nick Saban and Kirby Smart. And yet, their last two seasons ended in total and complete embarrassment and now they are getting thrown the “Penn State 2025” title. Life comes at you fast, I guess.