You can pick the negative adjective to describe Penn State football’s loss to Northwestern on Friday night. The Nittany Lions intended to rain on the christening of New Ryan Field, and instead walked away in a puddle of their own cold blood.

Following the team’s loss to Wisconsin last weekend, Matt Campbell and his coaching staff were determined to get this group back on track. But after falling short on multiple facets for the second consecutive week, an outsider would not be completely crazy to question the effectiveness of leadership within the program.

The heart of a football team flows through its quarterback, and after looking near-flawless in the first three contests of the season, Rocco Becht has not looked the part of a Big Ten quarterback in either of the past two games.

But for a man with the most wins of any active player in college football, capitulating to failure is something Becht refuses to accept. He looks to continue being someone his teammates can look up to, and will find guidance in his “why” as the season progresses.

“I’m doing it for my family. I’m doing it for the reasons that I love this game so much, and you know, put a smile on the people’s faces around me, and be a great leader on this team,” Becht said. “I love the game of football.”

The relationship between Campbell and Becht is perhaps the strongest on the team. The head coach recruited his quarterback to Iowa State back in 2020, Becht’s second Power Five offer.

Campbell has seen firsthand how Becht’s character translates to on-field success, his ability to overcome adversity and navigate difficult moments in his career being defining factors of their time together.

“Rocco, we have great belief in, just like I have belief in all of our players, and really, I have great belief in our coaches,” he said. “We gotta find answers, and we gotta get it fixed fast.”

Taking accountability was a prominent theme following the loss to Northwestern, when the team appeared particularly adamant in its trust in one another.

Each Nittany Lion took it upon themselves to pick up the slack, pledging to become better leaders, and it started with Campbell.

“I thought the character of our kids, in terms of how we handled last week, was really impressive from my end of it,” he said. “And again, that’s what falls a little bit on my shoulders is that balance of, you know, the mental approach of getting our guys back and the physical approach that it takes to be the team we need to be to be consistent.”

Taking the blame is part of the job description for any coach. Offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser recently expressed personal frustration with his shortcomings in highlighting the talent in the tight end room, a group that received a lot of hype entering the season.

Benjamin Brahmer is part of that group, but for him and others, ragging on the coaching staff is the last thing they would ever consider doing. Seeing its coaches be apologetic following a loss gets under the skin of this team and will be something the players use as fuel heading into the White Out.

“I’m not frustrated in Mouse[r] whatsoever,” Brahmer said. “I think he makes the right play calls all the time, and I trust him. I’ve been doing that for three years under him now. So no matter if I get a ball zero times a day or five, whatever I had, I don’t really care. I just want to win for my team.”

Cooper Cousins, now a seasoned veteran, is another guy who took exception to seeing Campbell take the fall for the team’s loss on Friday night.

The offensive lineman is sick of making excuses for poor play and is more motivated than ever to rally the locker room.

It could be something as simple as waking up earlier and encouraging teammates to join him, but Cousins’ role as an offensive leader is giving him extra motivation to step up his game and, in turn, ease the burden Campbell has to face.

“The biggest thing is you can have a victim mentality or a victor mentality,” Cousins said.

This Penn State team believes it has the right personnel, on the field and the sidelines, to find success in the Big Ten.

As the Nittany Lions continue to navigate their first season under a new regime, they know it takes added effort from each one of them to get the program back on track.

Whether it be the coaching staff making adjustments in leadership tactics, as defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn did in the second half when he moved to the sideline, or the players establishing better habits throughout the week, the group is motivated to get back to playing Penn State’s brand of football.

“Trust the people around you. You know, listen to them. Don’t worry about anything else. Worry about the people who love you, who trust you, who trust in you, and trust in the back,” Becht said.