The last week of Penn State football’s non-conference play is almost here. 

After defeating Temple 27-9 on the road in Week 2, the Nittany Lions hope to move forward from a dicey offensive showing and enter Big Ten play on a high note.

After last week’s game, Penn State moved to No. 14 in the AP Poll following a shakeup in the top-10. Most notably, the Nittany Lions leapfrogged Oregon, which was shockingly upset by unranked Oklahoma State. 

The Nittany Lions open as a 40.5-point favorite, per FanDuel, the largest opening spread for Penn State this season by a substantial margin.

With questions about Penn State’s run game still unanswered, the coaching staff will use this opportunity to iron out the kinks before Wisconsin comes to town next weekend.

The Team

Buffalo makes a strong case to be the worst team on Penn State’s 2026 schedule.

The Bulls play in the MAC and typically hover around the middle of the pack in conference standings. Entering Saturday’s game, Buffalo sits at 1-1, narrowly defeating Albany in Week 1 and falling well short of FIU in Week 2. 

Last season, the team finished 5-7. It opened its campaign against a Big Ten foe in Minnesota, a game it ultimately lost 23-10.

It’s worth noting that the team experienced heavy roster turnover this offseason, returning just 30% of its production, good for last in the MAC. Graduations and the program’s desire for a competitive shift drove the change, as only five starters from last season carried that title into 2026. 

Penn State last took on Buffalo in 2019 under the lights at Beaver Stadium. The Nittany Lions won the game 45-13, but the victory didn’t come as easily as the final score might suggest. 

After trailing the Bulls 10-7 at halftime, the Penn State offense finally stepped on the gas, thanks in large part to a 109-yard performance from Jahan Dotson. 

The Nittany Lions lead the all-time series 3-1, with Buffalo’s lone win coming in 1900: a shutout on home turf 126 years ago.  

The current head coach of the Bulls is Pete Lembo, who was hired prior to the 2024 season. Before taking the position, Lembo served as the associate head coach and special teams coordinator at South Carolina, a title that he held for three seasons.

Buffalo’s offensive coordinator is Tony Tokarz, a man described on the team’s website as “one of the top young offensive minds in college football.” He is operating in his first season with the program after spending six years at Florida State, four as the Seminoles’ quarterback coach.

On the other side of the ball, Brian Dougherty is in his second season as the Bulls’ defensive coordinator, being promoted from safeties coach in 2025 after former coordinator Joe Bowen took a job with Pitt.

The Offense

The Buffalo offense under Tokarz is just two games old, so it’s difficult to analyze the 2026 version of the Bulls as a cohesive unit. The offseason roster turnover hit the offense hardest. Out of the five returning starters, just one of them played on the offensive side of the ball.

That player’s name is Jasaiah Gathings, a redshirt senior wide receiver. Before transferring to Buffalo in 2025, Gathings played at Akron and UConn. His best season was undoubtedly his sophomore year with the Zips, when he tallied 575 yards on 55 receptions.

At the quarterback position, Elijah Holmes began the season as the starter, but got off to a below-average start. In his first game, his completion percentage hovered just around 55%. 

The Wingate University transfer then went down with an apparent knee injury in Week 2, paving the way for Jason Wright to take over the reins, the expected starter for Saturday.

In Wright’s “relief appearance” against FIU, he threw for a sub-optimal 13-for-27, recording 185 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception.

Chance Morrow is the player to watch out for on offense, a wide receiver responsible for nearly 40% of the team’s receptions. In last week’s game, he notched 170-yards on 11 receptions and added two touchdowns to the stat sheet. The week before that, he had three touchdowns.

On the ground, much like Penn State, Buffalo has struggled greatly. The Bulls have been splitting carries fairly substantially, with Terrance Shelton Jr. and Messiah Burch getting the brunt of the workload.

No running back has rushed for more than 75 yards in a game so far in the season, and last week, the Bulls’ run game accounted for just 62 total yards, split among five players.

In the trenches, the offensive line features two transfers, Nino Francavilla and Nathan Natoli. The group is relatively inexperienced, featuring one redshirt freshman and two redshirt sophomores. Working through inconsistencies in the run game will start with adjustments up front.

The Defense

Buffalo’s defense, historically, has been the definition of average. Last season, it finished fifth in the MAC in total defense and currently sits in eighth through two games. 

In the team’s matchup against FIU, the Bulls surrendered nearly 400 yards through the air and over 150 yards on the ground.

SaVeon Brown is a defensive leader and a hybrid player who can make an impact at both nickel and linebacker. The senior has recorded 16 total tackles so far this season, 12 solo, and has tallied one interception in the Hoof role.

Buffalo runs a 4-2-5 scheme, and its two starting linebackers are both 2026 transfers. Stevie Bracey and Zach Bergmann joined the program this offseason after transferring from Virginia and Missouri Southern State, respectively. Bracey is tied with Brown for second on the team’s total tackle list so far.

Atop that list is safety Ronnell Davis, a junior who has played all three years with the Bulls. His 17 total tackles, 11 solo, and one pass deflection make him a force to be reckoned with in the defensive secondary.

When it comes to the linemen, senior defensive tackle Cornell Evans is the leader of the bunch. He has recorded at least 14 total tackles and a sack in each of the past two seasons, and brings a veteran presence to the group. 

Edge rusher Logan Goodwin has also been solid up front, leading the team with 15 total pressures, four quarterback hits and a sack.

Special Teams

Sophomore Oliver Hautanen is Buffalo’s place-kicker and has gotten off to a strong start in his collegiate career. Last week, he drilled both field-goal attempts, including one from 51 yards and another from 45.

Ethan Stumpf is the team’s punter and averages a respectable 45.1 yards per kick. He has eclipsed the 60-yard mark on multiple punts this season. Miles Greer, Phillip Folmar, Clint Walker, and Brown have shared return duties.