STATE COLLEGE | Penn State running back Carson Hansen jogged gingerly on the sideline to test his lower-body as the third quarter was about to begin but didn’t quite have the pop to return. Which was a shame, his head coach said.
“I thought he was unbelievable tonight,” Campbell said. “Obviously it stinks that he got dinged up, because it had a chance to be a really powerful night for him, for sure.”
Hansen continued his late-season hot streak Saturday against Minnesota, rushing for a season-high 126 yards and a touchdown in the Nittany Lions’ 42-14 victory at a wet and blustery Beaver Stadium. It was Hansen’s best game of the season and the second-best of his career, following a 152-yard performance against BYU in 2025 with Iowa State.
But the game also was cut short on a first-and-goal play late in the second quarter. Hansen bulled into the line for no gain, then came up limping to the sideline. While officials reviewed (and ultimately overturned) a potential Ben Brahmer touchdown catch on the next play, Hansen limped into the locker room with a trainer.
He returned to the sideline in the second half and tested the lower-body issue but did not play. Asked about Hansen’s status after the game, Campbell said, “I think he’ll be alright.”
“I don’t think it’s a significant injury, but we’ll certainly know more earlier this week about what his availability would be next week,” Campbell said.
Hansen played his best statistical game of the season with just 12 carries in just two quarters. He looked quicker, made sharper cuts and beat Minnesota safeties on multiple carries to deliver three explosive carries.
He went for 34 yards on his second touch of the game, covered 22 on a second-quarter run and scored on a 46-yard touchdown run on which he danced around two Gophers and sidestepped two others who ran into each other.
Even though Campbell said that “this guy is the same guy all the time,” Hansen looked like a completely different back than he did through the season’s first seven games, when he topped 60 yards just once. He has rushed for 341 yards in his last three games, averaging 7.9 yards per carry. Hansen also has rushed for touchdowns in six straight games.
Hansen averaged 2.9 yards per carry through the first four Big Ten games, lost snaps to the backfield rotation against Wisconsin and Northwestern and watched Cam Wallace become the most popular back in the offense.
But Hansen maintained his composure and never lost the trust of Campbell or the offensive coaches.
“Obviously I think it was more the people around him than it was Carson early in the season and consistently getting the running game to where we needed it to get to,” Campbell said. “And again, I think [it’s] trying to put together the five offensive linemen, finding the consistency, what do they do best, and trying to work through that. You know that’s been a work in progress, but we got there.”
Hansen was instrumental to Penn State’s three-game win streak that assured the team will be bowl eligible. He was a key companion to Wallace against Purdue, rushing for 96 yards and a touchdown, and essentially Penn State’s win at Wisconsin with a 36-yard run in the fourth quarter.
“Carson put in a lot of work,” said Wallace, who rushed for 82 yards on 15 carries against the Gophers. “He’s a very detailed guy. He loves working on the little things. You see he made a guy miss in the open field today, and that’s one thing he was working on in practice, and we’re glad it showed up in the game today.”
Campbell said this week that Hansen, who is from Lakeville, Minnesota, didn’t get a ton of offers to play running back in college. Minnesota didn’t offer him at all. But while other schools wanted Hansen to play safety, Campbell and the Iowa State staff saw a running back, and Hansen chose the Cyclones in 2023.
He played three seasons at Iowa State, topping out last year with a career-high 952 yards to earn all-Big 12 honors. Hansen was among the higher-ranked backs in the transfer portal but didn’t waver in choosing to follow Campbell to Penn State. Hansen also has one more year of eligibility, since the NCAA implemented its new five-for-five rule this year.
“Obviously my belief in Carson Hansen’s never wavered,” Campbell said. “You know, what he’s been about, what he stands for, and man, I thought he was unbelievable tonight.”
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