Back in January, when Penn State announced Jim Knowles would be joining its staff as the defensive coordinator, excitement and anticipation immediately filled the Happy Valley air.

Knowles had just won a national championship with Ohio State earlier that month, leading a stellar Buckeyes defense to the peak of college football. It took a lot for Penn State to steal the coordinator from his previous institution ($3.1 million to be exact); however, once the deal was inked, Penn State fans believed the Nittany Lions had the chance to reach the promised land.

Fast forward to week 10, and there is a palpable sense of regret and anger from the Penn State faithful. The Knowles regime has been an utter failure thus far, capitalized by Penn State’s blowout loss in Columbus, Ohio, to drop to 3-5.

Despite a hard-fought first half that ended with a clutch Penn State takeaway in Ohio State territory, the Nittany Lions were outmatched by the Buckeye offense.

Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin had a career day, going 20-for-23 for 316 passing yards and four touchdowns. His favorite targets, Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate, each had over 120 yards on six and five catches, respectively. Smith had two touchdowns while Tate had another.

“They’re two very talented receivers,” Penn State safety Zakee Wheatley said postgame. “They got speed, they got size, and catch the ball. Anytime you’ve got a combination like that, it’s a challenge coming into that week. We knew that.”

The duo of Smith and Tate has been making a case for the best receiver combo in college football. To start the second half, Sayin launched a deep ball to Tate on the second play of the drive, setting the Buckeye offense up within Penn State’s 5-yard line and destroying the momentum the Nittany Lions had going into the half.

“We’ve been preaching all week, all practice, keep the ball in front of us,” Penn State linebacker Amare Campbell said postgame. “We’ve got to be better. We’ve got to be better as players.”

Interim head coach Terry Smith made it very clear that it was an emphasis all week to keep Smith and Tate in front of the Nittany Lion defensive backs.

The plan seemingly got away from the secondary as multiple long balls soared over Penn State defenders’ heads on Saturday, ultimately causing the second-half collapse.

“It was a point of emphasis, it was keys to victory: You cannot let them beyond you. Now, credit to those guys. They are the two best in the country…We could not cover them,” Smith said postgame.

Unfortunately for Penn State, it didn’t end with the receivers. The Buckeyes’ rushing attack took shape in the second half. Bo Jackson rattled off a 51-yard run to push his rushing total over 100 yards and bolstered his yards per carry to 8.1.

In the end, Knowles’ defense allowed 480 yards of total offense, the most against it this season. In comparison, Matt Patricia, Ohio State’s new defensive coordinator, only allowed 200 yards of offense from the Nittany Lions, entirely shutting out Penn State in the second half.

Knowles is not missed at Ohio State, as shown clearly by Buckeye fans who booed their former defensive coordinator on Saturday. The same fans cheered for Patricia as the camera flipped between the two on the Jumbotron late in the second half.

If Knowles and the Penn State football program don’t fix something soon, a new head coach may be in line to bring a replacement coordinator for a fresh restart in the 2026 campaign.