Riding a two-game winning streak, Northwestern will venture into enemy territory for the first time since Week 1 as it travels to Penn State on Saturday.
The Wildcats (3-2, 1-1 Big Ten) fell into a rhythm against Louisiana-Monroe, pulling away for a 42-7 victory. Ahead of the upcoming matchup with Penn State (3-2, 0-2 Big Ten), coach David Braun echoed the same sentiment at his weekly press conference Monday as he did immediately after his team’s last win: “Comfort is our enemy.”
“Just ’cause we’ve found a little bit of success doesn’t mean we are where we need to be,” Braun told reporters.
When NU enters Beaver Stadium, the second-largest stadium in the country, it will be greeted by over 100,000 roaring fans. To prepare for the atmosphere, Braun and the coaching staff have ramped up the crowd noise and added surprises to the team’s practice structure this week.
“We’re going into a hostile environment,” Braun said. “This team, specifically in 2025, has not experienced an environment like we’ll experience at Penn State. It’s an awesome challenge for this football team, and a challenge that our team’s looking forward to.”
While the ’Cats and Nittany Lions currently share a 3-2 record, Penn State is recovering from consecutive Big Ten losses to then-No. 6 Oregon and UCLA. NU split its two matchups earlier in the season with those shared opponents, losing to the Ducks 34-14 on Sept. 13.
Entering last weekend, Penn State was ranked No. 7 in the country after an overtime loss to Oregon. Following a loss to the previously winless Bruins, the Nittany Lions dropped out of the AP Top 25 entirely. Braun said UCLA’s upset win Saturday epitomized the reality of the expanded 18-team Big Ten, while still crediting Penn State as one of the strongest teams in the country.
“The Big Ten is a totally different animal right now than what it’s been in the past,” Braun said. “And not that it wasn’t a great conference before, but this is so much more like the NFL than it’s ever been. And what I mean by that is, it’s ‘Any Given Sunday’ in the NFL. In the Big Ten, it’s ‘Any Given Saturday’.”
The Nittany Lions have an experienced roster led by senior running backs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton. Both were 2023 All-Big Ten selections and have over 3,000 career rushing yards. Allen currently leads Penn State with 377 rushing yards and six touchdowns, both sixth-best in the Big Ten.
The ’Cats gave up 87 rushing yards Saturday to the Warhawks, an improvement over their season average of 146.8 yards allowed per game. NU’s run defense currently ranks fifth-worst in the Big Ten, an area Braun said has to be better against the Nittany Lions.
“If we want to win in the Big Ten, we’ve got to find ways to effectively stop the run,” Braun said. “We’re facing two of the best backs in the country this weekend.”
Both the ’Cats and Nittany Lions have had success slowing down air attacks this season, each with top-six pass defenses in the conference, allowing under 170 passing yards per game.
Graduate student quarterback Preston Stone is coming off a season-best performance against ULM, throwing for 262 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions.
Penn State struggled to contain UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava’s dual-threat ability Saturday, as he rushed for 128 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Bruins to victory. Stone rushed for a season-high 49 yards against ULM, including a 30-yard scramble. Braun said that the team does not expect to use Stone as a designed runner often against Penn State, but has confidence in his ability to make plays with his mobility against a tough defense.
“(Stone has) proven over the course of the last couple weeks that he can utilize his legs to be a threat and be a weapon,” Braun said. “That’s something that needs to continue. I don’t think Preston is anyone that we’re ever going to go into a game plan saying that we’re going to intentionally carry him a bunch, but he definitely can utilize his athleticism to be efficient and keep us ahead of the chains.”
Penn State’s defense excels at forcing turnovers, with four interceptions and five forced fumbles this season. Stone struggled with turnovers early in the year, and his six interceptions are tied for seventh-most in the country.
He has cleaned things up in recent games, with no turnovers in his last two outings, which has helped propel NU’s offense. Against the Nittany Lions, the ’Cats will need Stone to continue to operate the offense efficiently. Braun said Stone is playing his best football as of late, an identity that the team will lean on for the rest of the season.
“When you ask our offense, ‘Who are we?’, one of those bullet points is we got a winner at quarterback, and he’s playing winning football right now,” Braun said following Saturday’s win.
Email: andrewlittle2028@u.northwestern.edu
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