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The Penn State Domination Continues, Beating Buffalo 55-13

 
Tagged under: Penn State, Pennsylvania Colleges, pfn

| September 19, 2026

University Park—If there is one word to describe Penn State’s victory over the Buffalo Bulls, it would be dominate. A threatening offense, a scary defensive unit, and a fundamentally sound special teams group. Put that combination all together and you are looking at one of the better teams in all of college football. 

Were Penn State’s opponents on the easier side of the schedule? Yes. But every contender plays not so good teams to get their feet wet in the start the season, and they way the Nittany Lions are defeating these teams is a sign of good things to come not just for the present, but for the near future.

The afternoons contest, in which had the theme of supporting Thon, started with the Bulls receiving the opening kickoff. Buffalo came into the season with a 1-1 record and fresh off a loss against FIU 33-20. Right off the bat the Penn State defense forced a three-and-out, the first of seven Penn State would force in the half.

The first possession for the Penn State offense went 7 yards and saw the running game get action early. On a fourth-and-short, Nittany Lions Head Coach, Matt Campbell, played it safe and settled for the points. Ryan Barker, who was 2/3 last week at Temple, hit from 48-yards to put the home team out in front 3-0.

Buffalo got the ball back, but the result was the same- another three-and-out. Following the second punt from Ethan Stumpf, the Penn State offense was pinned back with the drive starting at their own 19-yard line. On this drive, the play action game opened up, leading to a nice catch downfield by Koby Howard for a 31-yard pickup. Following the pass, Penn State went back to the ground and James Peoples maneuvered his way into the end zone. The Nittany Lions led it 10-0.

Buffalo tried to get something going, but in their second play of their third drive, Caleb Bacon forced a fumble which was recovered by his teammate Ikenna Ezeogu. After getting the ball back in opposition territory, quarterback Rocco Becht found his junior tight end, Andrew Rappleyea, for another Penn State touchdown. The Nittany Lions were up 17-0 not even nine minutes into the contest. 

Buffalo, trying to get anything going on offense, faced a hungry Penn State defensive line. The pressures started to kick in and created chaos on quarterback Jason Wright. The result- another punt. On Buffalo’s opening four series, they lost one fumble and punted the three other times. 

James Peoples who ended the day with 59 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns, split time once again with Quinton Martin Jr. and Cam Wallace as the revolving door for the number one option continues. The fourth drive for Penn State did not result in points, seeing Nathan Tiyce punt for the first time. 

Buffalo started its fifth possession with negative one rushing yards, five passing yards, and no first downs. However, they were able to get something brewing off a few Penn State penalties. Siale Taupaki got called for illegal hands to the face and a few plays later pass interference was called on the Nittany Lions’ defense. 

The Bulls were across opposition territory for the first time all day, marching their way into the 5-yard line. However, the offense went rush of 1-yard, incompletion, incompletion, and therefore had to settle for a field goal. Oliver Hautanen hit from 21-yards out, putting Buffalo on the board, trailing 17-3.

The end of the first quarter ended with a 61-yard rush by Martin Jr. to set up Penn State nicely heading into the second.

The drive stalled out for Penn State, but nonetheless they added to their lead with another Barker field goal. Penn State goes up 20-3.

The defense forced another three-and-out, giving the ball right back to the Penn State offense. Campbell gave Carson Hansen the majority of carries on this drive. His workload this week dipped, 37-yards on five carries, but the senior is a really good fourth option. Then Campbell went deep into his call sheet, drawing up an end around, that ended with Koby Howard finding his way into the end zone. The 20-yard rush put Penn State up 27-3. 

Buffalo got the ball back, and once again sent it away. At this point, they had seven drives with five ending in a punt. What appeared to be a fumble by Peoples, replay review reversed the call saying his knee was down. The drive did not go much more and Tiyce punted for the second time in the half. 

What did Buffalo do their next series? You guessed it- a punt. Another reason why Penn State has been so successful early on in the season is because their special teams unit plays fundamentally strong. Zay Robinson looks real good and comfortable as the team’s punt returner, being able to break off tackles on almost every return. He averaged 13.6-yards per return today.

The Bulls defense forced back-to-back punts and so did the Nittany Lions. With 2:31 remaining in the half, Becht found his number one receiver, Howard, for a 70-yard touchdown to put Penn State up 34-3. Howard has been incredible so far this season, ending week 3’s game with 135 scrimmage yards (115 receiving, 20 rushing) and 2 touchdowns. 

The two minute came rolling around with Buffalo desperate to get something on the board. The offense had a fourth-and-one from their own side of the field and decided to roll the dice. They picked it up, and Wright followed it up with a rush a 21-yards. However, the sophomore was called for an intentional grounding, taking the Bulls offense back outside the red zone. Pete Lembo, Buffalo Head Coach, played it safe and wanted points on the board. Hautanen hits again, this time from 40, and the half ends with Penn State in full control 34-6.

Two plays into the third quarter, Chase Sowell made a catch of 35-yards. Five plays later, Hansen got into the end zone with a 12-yard rushing touchdown. The defense continued to apply pressure, with Marcus Neal Jr. recovering his own forced fumble. By this point, Penn State was up 36 points, and Campbell made the smart decision by removing his fifth-year quarterback and replacing him with backup Alex Manske. 

On that ensuing drive, Peoples found the end zone once more, his second of the game, putting Penn State up 48-6. Both teams traded punts and the third quarter closed with only 14 total points being scored.

Penn State went on an eight-play, 59-yard drive to open the fourth quarter. With the backups in and the offense at the opponents goal line, Campbell went for it in fourth down, however Wallace was stopped short and Penn State turned it over for the first time all game. 

The Bulls punted their next possession, ending the game with 10. All Wallace needed was one play to find the end zone. A 59-yard rushing touchdown put Penn State over the half-a-century mark. 

In response, Buffalo’s final drive was their first time with a touchdown. 12 plays, 75-yards later, the Bulls found their way into the end zone. James McNeil Jr. ran in for a 1-yard touchdown rush. The score- Penn State 55, Buffalo 13.

Penn State was able to chew off the games final 4:55 and secure their third win of the season.

The Nittany Lions have played three lesser teams. But they have three wins to their name. If the running game continues to improve and feed off of the deep ball threat, this offense will be deadly. The defense is already stellar. 

They do have holes they need to cover up, and Matt Campbell will be the first person to tell you that. He admitted that the team cannot take penalties, no matter the situation. 

With all that in mind, Penn State enters the next phase of the schedule- Big Ten opponents. Wisconsin will be a tough opponent, but the way the Nittany Lions have looked so far, and the fact they are at home, there is no reason why they should not start the season 4-0. 

 
 
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