Northwestern 34, Penn State 13: Recap of the Ground Game That Opened the New Ryan Field
- 🔑 Northwestern beat Penn State 34-13 on Friday, October 2, 2026, in the first game at the new $875 million Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois, leading from the opening field goal to the final whistle. Penn State (3-2, 0-2 Big Ten) lost its second straight game, its first season under head coach Matt Campbell.
- Northwestern ran for 413 yards on 55 carries, 7.5 per attempt, and gained 506 yards in total, both season highs for the Wildcats. Caleb Komolafe had a career-high 188 rushing yards and a touchdown, and Joseph Himon II had a career-high 162 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries.
- Penn State managed only 48 rushing yards on 22 carries, 2.2 per attempt, and 291 total yards. Quarterback Rocco Becht threw for 243 yards and a touchdown but was intercepted twice, and kicker Ryan Barker missed a 45-yard field goal just before halftime with the score at 24-7.
- By quarter, Northwestern scored 10, 14, 7 and 3 points to Penn State’s 0, 7, 0 and 6. Northwestern improved to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the Big Ten; by our arithmetic from Penn State’s own pregame notes, the series now stands 16-7 in Penn State’s favor after back-to-back Wildcat wins.
- Before the game, Penn State was unranked in the AP poll (receiving votes) and No. 22 in the Coaches Poll. Post-game polls were not out as of Saturday, October 3, 2026. Both teams host on October 10: Penn State against USC, Northwestern against Ball State. No betting odds, spreads or win probabilities are used.
Northwestern beat Penn State 34-13 on Friday night, October 2, 2026, in the first game ever played at the new Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois, rushing for 413 yards and leading from the opening field goal to the final whistle. Running backs Caleb Komolafe and Joseph Himon II combined for 350 of those yards, while Penn State (3-2, 0-2 Big Ten) could not get its own ground game started. Here is how the 23rd meeting between the schools played out, with every figure checked against the official box score.
What was the final score of Northwestern vs. Penn State?
Northwestern won 34-13 on Friday, October 2, 2026, at the new Ryan Field, in a game that kicked off at 8 p.m. ET on FOX. By quarter, the Wildcats scored 10, 14, 7 and 3 points to Penn State’s 0, 7, 0 and 6, which made it 24-7 at halftime. Head coach David Braun, quoted on Northwestern’s athletics site, called the night “something that dreams are made of.” The stadium is an $875 million building on the same site as the old Ryan Field, according to a national wire-service game story.
How did the scoring unfold?
Northwestern scored first and never trailed; Penn State got within three points once, at 10-7 in the second quarter. Jackson Kleather’s 50-yard field goal opened the scoring, and Joseph Himon II’s 47-yard run set up Aidan Chiles’ 2-yard touchdown keeper for a 10-0 lead. After Carson Hansen’s 8-yard run cut the margin, Himon answered with touchdown runs of 38 and 11 yards. Scores below list Northwestern first.
| Qtr | Score | Play |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3-0 | Kleather 50-yd FG |
| 1 | 10-0 | Chiles 2-yd run |
| 2 | 10-7 | Hansen 8-yd run (PSU) |
| 2 | 17-7 | Himon 38-yd run |
| 2 | 24-7 | Himon 11-yd run |
| 3 | 31-7 | Komolafe 1-yd run |
| 4 | 31-13 | Sowell 16-yd TD (PSU) |
| 4 | 34-13 | Kleather 37-yd FG |
Penn State’s Ryan Barker missed a 45-yard field goal right before halftime. The Nittany Lions’ only other touchdown was a 16-yard pass from Rocco Becht to Chase Sowell in the fourth quarter, and the 2-point try after it failed. The two Penn State touchdowns came more than 30 minutes of game time apart.
How did Northwestern run for 413 yards?
Northwestern averaged 7.5 yards on 55 carries, with Komolafe and Himon supplying 350 of the 413 yards. Komolafe carried 25 times for a career-high 188 yards and a touchdown, and Himon had a career-high 162 yards and two touchdowns on only 10 carries, an average of 16.2. Everyone else combined for 63 yards on 20 carries. The total was a season high for the Wildcats, and Northwestern’s own recap says it was the program’s most rushing yards in a game since 444 against Illinois on November 22, 2003. The same recap says Kleather’s 50-yarder was the longest field goal by a Wildcat since 2002.
| Player | Car | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Komolafe | 25 | 188 | 1 |
| Himon II | 10 | 162 | 2 |
| Sawchuk | 8 | 27 | 0 |
| Chiles | 6 | 21 | 1 |
| Wagner | 2 | 15 | 0 |
| Team | 55 | 413 | 4 |
The total includes four team carries for no yards. Chiles needed to throw only 14 times, finishing 10-for-14 for 93 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. Northwestern’s recap puts the halftime rushing count at 237 yards to 26.
What went wrong for Penn State?
Penn State could not run the ball or protect it, finishing with 48 rushing yards on 22 carries and two interceptions thrown. Becht was 26-for-41 for 243 yards and one touchdown, and Braydon Brus and Robert Fitzgerald each intercepted him once. Sowell caught five passes for 68 yards and the touchdown. Tony Rojas led the Nittany Lions with 12 tackles and a sack. Penn State head coach Matt Campbell, in his first season at the school, said afterward that Northwestern played the style of football Penn State wants to play and that his own team fell short of its standard for effort and toughness.
How did the two teams compare in the box score?
Northwestern led in nearly every major category, finishing with 506 total yards to Penn State’s 291. The Wildcats also held the ball for about 12 minutes longer.
| Stat | NU | PSU |
|---|---|---|
| Total yards | 506 | 291 |
| Rushing | 413 | 48 |
| Passing | 93 | 243 |
| First downs | 25 | 20 |
| 3rd downs | 5-12 | 5-14 |
| Turnovers | 1 | 2 |
| Possession | 36:05 | 23:55 |
| Penalties | 7-78 | 5-60 |
Northwestern’s one turnover was a lost fumble. Source: the official box score.
What does the result mean for the records and the series?
Northwestern improved to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the Big Ten, while Penn State fell to 3-2 and 0-2. It was Penn State’s second straight loss, after a 24-20 defeat to Wisconsin on September 26, and Northwestern’s bounce-back from a 29-23 loss at Indiana in its previous game. Penn State’s own pregame notes had the Nittany Lions ahead 16-6 in the series before kickoff; adding this result makes it 16-7 by our arithmetic, with Northwestern winning back-to-back meetings after its 22-21 win in 2025.
What were the polls before the game, and what is next?
Entering the game, Penn State was unranked in the AP poll, where it received votes, and No. 22 in the Coaches Poll; Northwestern was receiving votes in both. As of Saturday, October 3, 2026, the polls reflecting this result had not been released. Both teams play at home on October 10, 2026: Penn State against USC and Northwestern against Ball State.
What is the bottom line?
The October 2 game was decided on the ground: Northwestern gained 413 yards at 7.5 per carry in the new stadium’s first game, and Penn State gained 48. For how Penn State’s loss a week earlier unfolded, see our Wisconsin-Penn State recap .
How we verified this
Final score, quarter scores and scoring plays were checked against a major sports network’s box score and play-by-play scoring log (status Final), a national wire-service game story (read in two published copies), Northwestern’s own post-game recap, and Penn State’s pregame notes, plus a news listing of same-night game stories from both schools’ athletics sites and regional and national outlets. All agreed on the 34-13 final and the 24-7 halftime score.
Individual and team statistics come from the official box score. The rushing lines add up to the team total (188 + 162 + 27 + 21 + 15 = 413 yards on 55 carries, including four team carries for no yards), the kicking and touchdown lines reconcile with the scoring log, and the 413, 506 and 291 yard totals match the wire-service story. First downs, third downs, possession time and penalties rest on the box score alone.
Conflicting figures: Northwestern’s own recap lists Penn State at 2-2. The wire-service story, the sports network’s data and the schedule results (Penn State’s three wins plus losses to Wisconsin and Northwestern) all give 3-2 and 0-2 in the Big Ten, which we used. The scoring log also labels Penn State’s extra point as a Northwestern kick; that is a labeling error, and we followed the wire story’s 7-point Penn State score after the Hansen touchdown.
Northwestern’s historical claims (most rushing yards in a game since November 22, 2003, and longest field goal by a Wildcat since 2002) come from Northwestern’s own recap and are attributed to it in the text. We could not confirm them independently. We left out another claim in that release about Big Ten teammates because we could not check it.
Series record: Penn State’s pregame notes list a 16-6 lead in the 23rd meeting. The 16-7 figure after the game is our own arithmetic from that number, not a published figure; Northwestern’s recap confirms back-to-back wins.
Quotes: David Braun’s short quote was read in the text of Northwestern’s athletics-site recap. Matt Campbell’s postgame remarks are paraphrased, not quoted.
Rankings: the AP Top 25 and AFCA Coaches Poll released on September 27, 2026, show Penn State unranked with votes in the AP poll and No. 22 in the Coaches Poll, and Northwestern receiving votes in both. Post-game polls had not been published as of Saturday, October 3, 2026, so this was still moving at write time.
Attendance is deliberately not reported: no confirmed official crowd figure was found.
No betting odds, spreads, or win-probability figures appear anywhere on this page.