Lost among the other big games of week six of the college football season, Oklahoma-Texas, UCLA-Oregon, and Georgia-Alabama, was the most highly attended game of them all: USC-Penn State.
Despite the 2026 season being disappointing, to varying degrees, for both schools, it was still a highly anticipated matchup of two big programs looking to salvage their year. Penn State chose to make it the “White Out” game, then sold an incredible number of tickets. A record-breaking number, in fact.
The Nittany Lions announced the highest attendance in Beaver Stadium history, packing in a remarkable 114,419 fans for the 7:30 p.m. EDT kickoff. Penn State was coming off a brutal 34-13 loss to Northwestern where they allowed a whopping 506 total yards, including an almost incomprehensible 413 rushing yards to the Wildcat ground game. USC was one week removed from an ugly 25-21 win over Washington, and two weeks removed from a very poor 41-27 loss to Oregon.
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For Lincoln Riley, this had become the latest “must-win” game. Already on the hot seat, despite his massive buyout, a loss would effectively end any chance USC had of reaching the College Football Playoff thanks to upcoming games against Ohio State and Indiana. Under Riley, SC has also struggled mightily on the road, particularly in the Eastern Time Zone. Entering Saturday, the Trojans had gone just 4-7 in away games since joining the Big Ten.
For Penn State, despite the ugly loss to Northwestern, it was a chance to make several statements. One, that Beaver Stadium is still one of the toughest places to play in the country, and two, that the Nittany Lions would progress in year one of the Matt Campbell era by winning “big games” against ranked teams.
Instead, SC made the statement, and in the process, may have cooled off Riley’s seat just a bit.
Jayden Maiava played one of the best games of his career, completing 21 of 33 passing attempts with three touchdowns, controlling the offense while the running backs struggled to get going. In the second half, as the Nittany Lions defense wore down, King Miller and Waymond Jordan took over, including salting away the game on the final drive in the fourth quarter. Trent Mosley, who’d missed the last couple of games with an injury, showed why he’s arguably the most electric freshman in the country, catching nine passes for 111 yards and a touchdown.
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Penn State, meanwhile, just wasn’t good enough. Against the typically mediocre USC defense, their running attack was virtually non-existent with just 68 yards on 31 attempts. On several second-half drives, the Nittany Lions couldn’t get into the end zone after long drives, settling for disappointing field goals.
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After USC took an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter, they had a first and 10 at the USC 39-yard line with 6:31 to go. They went incomplete pass, incomplete pass, sack, punt. Even after forcing a punt and getting the ball back, Penn State immediately fumbled the ball right back to the Trojans.
SC ran out the clock thanks to a few first downs and another inexplicable PSU mistake. On 3rd-and-3 with just over a minute remaining, the Penn State d-line was called for delay of game for using signals to try and force SC into a false start. Automatic first down, game over. And it came after Riley got Campbell to burn his final timeout by using an unorthodox punt formation.
Lincoln Riley outcoaching someone else? Stop the presses.
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The Trojans, and Riley, had to win this game. Penn State is clearly in a rebuilding year after losing many of their players with the James Franklin firing. Their upcoming schedule is brutal; a road game against a suddenly-improved Wisconsin, Ohio State in LA, another road game at Indiana, before closing the season at the Rose Bowl against an impressive UCLA team.
Finish 10-2 and there’s a chance for the College Football Playoff. But a loss to Penn State might have sent the season off the rails, heading for a 7-5 or 8-4 record that could get Riley fired. That’s still a possibility, of course, but overcoming the largest crowd in Penn State history was a necessary first step. Can SC take the next few, arguably tougher steps? It’s unlikely, yes, but still possible.
Penn State fans and boosters though, might already be regretting their program’s big reset. The end of Franklin’s tenure in Happy Valley was disappointing, to say the least, but the Nittany Lions were just a few plays away from competing for a National Championship in the 2024-2025 College Football Playoff. Now they’ve lost three games in a row and are coming off back-to-back poor performances defensively in which they’ve allowed 936 total yards to Northwestern and USC.
The schedule gets easier from here on out, but this is hardly the type of progress fans were hoping for in year one of the Matt Campbell era. It’s one thing to lose to elite Ohio State or Michigan teams, it’s another to lose three games before the middle of October. James Franklin may not have been the coach to win Penn State a national title, but thus far, there hasn’t been much to suggest they’re closer to that goal now than they were a year ago.
USC has a bye before going to Wisconsin, while Penn State has to immediately regroup for a road trip to Michigan. Seems like both those games will tell us a lot about the direction these programs are heading in.
