Rocky, but resilient. That’s how Penn State’s defensive performance against Temple could be described.

The Nittany Lions surrendered 176 rushing yards in their 27-9 victory over the Owls. Former Penn State quarterback Jaxon Smolik, who transferred to Temple in January, accounted for 71 of those and averaged 10.1 yards per carry. Sophomore running back Keveun Mason contributed another 76 yards on his 14 carries, averaging out to 5.4 yards per carry.

Still, Penn State allowed just three points prior to a garbage-time touchdown rush by Temple’s backup quarterback Ajani Sheppard and held opposing passers to 107 total yards.

The Owls drew first blood with a field goal at the 12-minute mark of the second quarter. Sheppard’s score came at the 1:56 mark of the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, it took Penn State 23.5 minutes of game clock to score its first points after scrounging up just 66 first-quarter yards. Over 40 minutes of bending, but not breaking, granted the blue and white offense extra time to find its footing and prevent what would have been a disastrous early-season upset.

“We told the offense we’ll have their back, and we just had to step up on defense,” linebacker Tony Rojas said during postgame media availability. “That’s gonna be the case in some games. Some games the offense is going to have our back. It’s just vice versa, and having each other’s back.”

Rojas snagged an interception off his former teammate in the first quarter to set up Penn State’s offense deep inside the red zone, but the blue and white failed to gain five yards in four plays, resulting in a turnover-on-downs, rather than a touchdown.

Smolik and the Owls took that momentum and ran with it, literally. They crept all the way down to Penn State’s 10-yard line before the Nittany Lions stopped them for minimal gains twice. They then forced an incompletion on third down to force a field goal.

Rojas credits that widespread resilience to Matt Campbell’s mental teachings. The head coach has consistently emphasized that adversity is inevitable, directly preparing his men to endure it, rather than fear it.

“It starts with Coach Campbell and the staff implementing that mindset of, ‘We will be down by 21,’ or whatever it is at some point. Today, it felt like that,” Rojas said.

The Nittany Lions only trailed for five total minutes on Saturday, but the urgency of that matter was treated as if they were down by three scores. Even after correcting themselves and building a 27-3 lead late in the fourth quarter, Campbell and his players were hyper-aware of mental lapses that led to explosive plays for the Owls.

Specifically, a 47-yard rush by Smolik, along with three other gains of 15+ yards that Campbell referred to as a “lack of detail”. Rojas went so far as to say that allowing any points at all failed to uphold the defense’s standard.

However, it wasn’t all negative after the game, as Campbell praised his “A” players for responding to the adversity.

“I felt like nobody flinched. Nobody wavered. There was no complaining,” he said.

The middle eight, or the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half, were crucial to Penn State’s victory, according to Campbell. The sequence of a defensive stop, a touchdown from Becht to Benjamin Brahmer, a blocked field goal by Daryus Dixson, and a touchdown from Becht to Chase Sowell encapsulated Campbell’s preaching of complementary football.

Specifically, Campbell mentioned Audavion Collins, Zion Tracy, Rojas, and the secondary as a whole as standouts who held the line while the offense found its footing.

Tracy played just 12 snaps in the season opener, but returned to his usual hefty workload in the secondary in Week 2, finishing with five total tackles and a pass breakup against Temple.

With Campbell’s leadership, veterans, and the handful of aforementioned “A” players peppered all over the unit, Penn State’s defense appears to be built for adversity in 2026.