Matt Campbell arrived in December as a breath of fresh air for Penn State, but the honeymoon is already over on the field.
He came in with the kind of welcome that can only follow a major reset: a new voice, humility, appreciation for the program’s history, its legends, its lettermen and its community. That part went smoothly. The harder part has come fast, and it has come hard.
Through two Big Ten games, the Nittany Lions are 0-2, and the early returns have been rough in every phase. The defense has been shaky.
The offense has been worse. Special teams has been merely ordinary, with reliable kicker Ryan Barker missing a couple.
And the coaching staff, according to the source material, has not found the answers when games have started to slip away.
If you include the late touchdown pass to Chase Sowell against Northwestern, Penn State has managed just one TD drive in two Big Ten games.
That is the kind of number that turns up the pressure in a hurry.
The loss at Northwestern was especially jarring. The Wildcats rushed for 413 yards, with runs of 30 yards or more four times, 20 or more six times and 10 or more 12 times. The defense, after helping set up two touchdowns against Wisconsin, fell apart in Evanston and left the Lions looking overwhelmed.
There’s no sugarcoating that kind of start, especially when the program had reason to expect a smoother transition. Campbell brought two dozen transfers from Iowa State, mostly upperclassmen who already knew him and his staff, and the thought was that familiarity would give Penn State a head start. It hasn’t worked out that way so far.
Still, the source makes one thing clear: this is not the time for a final verdict.
Social media may be melting down, but the reality is that no hire should be judged after two or three games. Penn State has seen slow starts before.
Joe Paterno lost six of his first 11. Bill O'Brien dropped his first two before settling in.
James Franklin’s first two seasons ended 7-6.
There are also real complications around the roster. Senior quarterback Rocco Becht is struggling, and he leaves after this season anyway. In this era, turnover is part of the deal, which only makes the climb steeper.
The bigger picture around the program is messy, too. Campbell was hired late, after Franklin took a dozen players to Virginia Tech and others left in the free-agent NIL market.
Athletic director Pat Kraft, who the source says botched the search and has become a polarizing figure because of price increases and his overall comportment, is the one under the hottest spotlight. If anything, he is the one most hoping Campbell can steady the program quickly.
For now, though, the field is telling the story. Penn State did not look like a team ready to beat many Power-4 opponents at Northwestern, despite the Wildcats being a good team themselves. The Lions even came off looking worse than the 2003-04 teams, which went 7-16 and won only three Big Ten games but were usually competitive.
That’s where the concern sits: not just in the record, but in how little fight and cohesion have shown up so far. Campbell still deserves time, and the source argues strongly against writing him off this early. But the first impression on the field is already damaged, and fixing it will have to start fast.
One sobering number hangs over everything: Penn State has lost nine of its last 12 Big Ten games.
Campbell didn’t create that. But he is the one who has to stop it.
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