Penn State-Rutgers Takeaways: Lions earn bowl opportunity with comeback win

By Greg Pickel

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — The 2025 Penn State football season is not over yet. The Nittany Lions came to Rutgers on Saturday in search of their sixth win to earn bowl eligibility. Despite a struggling defense, they got it. PSU won, 40-36, on the strength of a 61-yard fumble return by junior linebacker Amare Campbell after Rutgers’ quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis dropped the ball midway through the fourth quarter.

Here are our top takeaways from the win.

1. That was a wild game

Who says 5-6 vs. 5-6 can’t be fun? Penn State and Rutgers both struggled to stop each other. Both made key mistakes, with the Scarlet Knights making the biggest one of the game. It was not a clean football game, nor was the highest level of skill on display. But in a game with something on the line, it was at least entertaining. The two teams combined for 1,042 yards. Each averaged nearly 10 yards per play (PSU was 9.4 to Rutgers’ 8.3). And the officials played a role, as a key defensive holding late in the fourth quarter gave Penn State a first-and-10 instead of a third-and-very-very-long.

In the end, Rutgers’ season is over. Penn State’s is not.

2. It was not a good night for the Penn State defense

Rutgers entered this game with a better offense than you might have expected from a 5-6 team, but the Scarlet Knights have not been not as good as Penn State made them look on Saturday night. The secondary struggled. It was arguably AJ Harris’ worst night in two seasons as a starting cornerback for the Nittany Lions. Missed tackles were a big theme of the night. And the pass rush was too often nowhere to be found. The same can be said for the defensive line as a whole for the majority of this 60-minute tilt.

The next head coach at Penn State will have to decide whether or not he is keeping coordinator Jim Knowles. If Knowles returns for a second season, many changes will be needed. Rutgers had never scored more than 34 points in the history of the rivalry, which dates back to 1918. The Knights broke that mark with 13:28 to play.

This was downright ugly, even if the defense made the game-winning play.

3. The Terry Smith era is over in the regular season

While Smith presumably will coach the Lions in their bowl game, his regular-season tenure as the Penn State interim head coach is over. He finishes 3-3 with three consecutive victories, and he avoided doing what his predecessor did: losing to a Big Ten team as a double-digit favorite.

4. Penn State-Rutgers odds and ends

–Kaytron Allen was fantastic. He ran 22 times for a career-high 226 yards and a score. Fellow senior Nicholas Singleton also had 2 rushing touchdowns. And tight end Andrew Rappleyea continued his late-season surge with a team-high 4 catches for 75 yards and a score.

–While the Lions struggled on third down, converting only 1 of 8 attempts, they were 3 for 3 on fourth down, including the final one to end the game.

–Penn State was actually outgained, 533-509, and still found a way to win.