Penn State’s slide into an 0-4 Big Ten start has turned Matt Campbell’s postgame messaging into part of the story.
The Nittany Lions are 3-4 overall and heading into their bye after a 21-18 loss to Michigan in Week 7, and the frustration around the program is only growing. It’s the first time Penn State has opened Big Ten play 0-4 since 2004, when Joe Paterno’s team stumbled through a 4-7 season after a 3-9 year in 2003. That span didn’t include the Bill O’Brien era, and it didn’t happen during James Franklin’s 12 seasons either.
Now, in a college football landscape defined by rapid roster movement and fast turnarounds, Penn State has found itself stuck. Programs like Curt Cignetti’s Indiana and Bob Chesney’s UCLA have surged quickly, while Campbell’s Nittany Lions have taken a hard fall in a year when change was supposed to bring answers.
Campbell, though, has leaned into the idea that he inherited a deeper problem than many people realize. Asked by Lions247’s Daniel Gallen after the Michigan loss how he reconciles his talk of growth with the results on the field, Campbell framed the job as one that still needs to be built from the ground up.
“Well, I don't think you can flinch right now," Campbell said. "You're building the foundation of a football program. And to be quite honest with you, the foundation of a program that needs to continue to showcase that it has the ability when it gets hard and when it gets tough, and again, we're not there, right?”
That line of thinking cuts against the reason Penn State brought him in. The program didn’t need someone to explain how hard the Big Ten is or how to survive a rebuild from the bottom. It needed someone to keep it in the fight with Ohio State, Oregon, Indiana, and Michigan.
Penn State had already buckled under the weight of preseason championship talk, then cracked again after its overtime loss to Oregon in the opening week of Big Ten play. Franklin later said he had foolishly walked away from his “1-0 mentality” while chasing bigger goals, a comment that only underscored how often Penn State had fallen short in the biggest spots.
But the larger point was never that Penn State was some hopeless program. It was that the Lions were close enough to the top to keep banging against the ceiling. Campbell, at least in the eyes of his critics, was not hired to explain why the ceiling is hard to reach.
He was also put in a difficult spot by athletic director Pat Kraft, who missed on BYU’s Kalani Sitake and stretched the coaching search past the start of the early signing period. With little time to work, Campbell turned to the transfer portal and brought in 24 former Iowa State Cyclones, including four-year starting quarterback Rocco Becht, in an effort to establish the culture he keeps referencing.
Instead, that veteran Iowa State group has looked out of place in Big Ten play. Becht’s three turnovers against Michigan directly led to all 21 of Michigan’s points, and Campbell’s belief that he could make that transition from the Big 12 has not paid off.
However the blame gets distributed - Campbell’s evaluations, Kraft’s missteps, or some mix of both - the record is the record. Penn State is sitting at the bottom, and Campbell’s attempt to frame the situation as something far worse than what he inherited is not landing with the people he needs most.
Coaches deflect. Coaches explain.
Coaches try to calm the noise. But after this start, Campbell doesn’t have much to offer other than Alex Manske is the starting quarterback after the bye.
And the message he keeps pushing, the one about building from nothing, is doing little to soothe a fanbase that expects far more than this.
In Other News...
Quinton Martin Drama Just Put Penn States Offensive Frustration In Public
Penn States offensive frustration spilled into the open after the Michigan game, when Quinton Martin Sr., the father of running back Quinton Martin Jr., took aim at quarterback Rocco Becht on social media. The post quickly turned into a public distraction for a team already dealing with questions about how it is distributing touches, and it only added to the sense that some of the discomfort around the offense has moved beyond the building.
Martin Sr. later apologized publicly to Becht, but the bigger issue for Penn State is still hanging there. Head coach Matt Campbells playing-time decisions have been under scrutiny, and Martin Jr. has seen limited carries this season, leaving his future with the program part of the conversation as well. For a team trying to steady its offense, even one familys frustration has become a revealing sign of how much tension is building around those decisions. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Fans Are Sending A Brutal Message About Purdue
Ticket prices for Penn States Oct. 31 home game against Purdue have slipped to as low as $14, a sign of how quickly the mood around Beaver Stadium can change after a rough stretch. The 28% drop from the previous week comes on the heels of Penn States loss to Michigan, a defeat that left the Nittany Lions at 3-4 overall and still searching for their first Big Ten win.
Purdue will arrive in State College with the same 3-4 record, but the matchup has clearly lost some of its pull for fans who were expecting a much different kind of late-season spotlight. The game is set for a 4:15 kickoff on Big Ten Network, and while the price on the secondary market suggests a soft appetite for the trip, Penn State still gets a chance to reset at home under the lights. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Fans Get Another Home Game Frustration Before Purdue
Penn State fans already had one unusual home date this fall, and they are getting another before Purdue rolls into Happy Valley. The Oct. 31 matchup has been set for a 4:15 p.m. kickoff on Big Ten Network, another late-afternoon slot that is not exactly the traditional look for a Nittany Lions home game.
It comes on the heels of the Wisconsin game being placed in a 5:00 p.m. window on Peacock, adding to the sense that Penn States home schedule has been anything but standard lately. The Lions will come out of a bye week to face a Purdue team that has been more competitive than expected, so the timing of this one will matter as much for the atmosphere as for the football. [Read more 🡒]