Matt Campbell’s pitch at Penn State landed with more force than a typical recruiting sales job because it laid bare the program’s problem in plain English.
On his Tuesday night coaches show, Campbell leaned into the image Penn State has long sold itself on and turned it into a warning sign. "This is College Football Town, USA.
We are not living in Austin, Texas, or Columbus, Ohio, where you’re just part of it. We are it."
That’s the tension now. Campbell made a career out of doing more with less at Iowa State, lifting a program that had been historically unsuccessful and under-resourced into the upper tier of the Big 12.
But at Penn State, the assignment is different. He is no longer chasing Texas Tech at the top of a league table.
He is trying to keep pace with Ohio State.
And that changes everything.
Campbell was never hired as a can’t-miss recruiter, and that was the biggest question hanging over him from the start. So far, that concern hasn’t gone away. Penn State’s 2027 class is solid at No. 20 nationally, a mark he never reached at Iowa State, but it still sits seventh in the Big Ten with less than two months left before the early signing period.
The deeper issue is bigger than one class. In Happy Valley, the usual recruiting edges are harder to find.
The school is far from major cities, the airport situation doesn’t match the demands of a coast-to-coast Big Ten, and in the NIL era, that lack of a surrounding business base matters even more. Campbell’s own pitch basically spotlighted the downside: Penn State is not sitting in a sprawling metro where outside money can naturally flow into the roster.
That’s why athletic director Pat Kraft gets dragged into the center of this conversation. If Penn State wants to stay in the race with the sport’s heavyweights, the school has to spend like one. Otherwise, it keeps drifting farther from the level James Franklin reached with Penn State’s lone College Football Playoff appearance.
The Athletic’s roster spending report put a number on the gap. Penn State’s 2026 roster is estimated at between $29 and 32 million.
That is a serious budget by most standards, but it still trails Ohio State, Oregon and Texas by about $20 million. In the Big Ten, that leaves Penn State at No. 7, behind Nebraska and roughly level with Wisconsin.
Campbell doesn’t have the kind of built-in recruiting machine that lets some programs survive or thrive despite those financial gaps. There are no long-standing local relationships to lean on, no established record of elite-level success to sell, and no major NIL ecosystem nearby to compensate. The comparison to Kirby Smart at Georgia shows the point starkly: Georgia sits No. 1 in the country with the 10th most expensive roster in the SEC, but Penn State doesn’t have that sort of structural cushion.
So the path forward is narrow. Campbell has to keep finding overlooked prospects and developing them at a pace that doesn’t let up, or Penn State has to start matching the sport’s biggest spenders. There is another possibility, though it is the one nobody around the program wants to hear: expectations may eventually have to shrink to meet the investment.
Campbell did arrive late enough that he missed the 2026 class, and the short runway also affected his prep for the transfer portal. That means this roster is not the final picture. If he can stack top-20 classes, get meaningful transfer portal help and continue building on his reputation as a developer of talent, Penn State can move out of its current hole and settle into the Big Ten’s upper-middle tier.
But that’s not why coaches at Penn State are judged so harshly. You don’t remove a head coach one year after a College Football Playoff appearance, no matter how shaky those two CFP wins looked, because you want to finish somewhere in the neighborhood of Nebraska and Wisconsin.
You do it because you believe a national title is there to be chased. And without spending that approaches Ohio State and Texas, that goal remains out of reach.
In Other News...
Penn State Could Be Getting A Familiar Name Back For A Key Need
Penn State may be getting a familiar name back at just the right time, with LaVar Arrington II expected to return to the football team after the bye week. The son of College Football Hall of Famer LaVar Arrington spent last season contributing on special teams, and his return adds another layer to a defense looking for help in the right spots.
Coach Matt Campbell said the staff still has to decide whether Arrington II will line up at linebacker or defensive end, a choice that will shape how quickly he can make an impact. After missing time this season because of injury, his comeback gives Penn State another option to consider as it tries to maximize his value on the field. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Faces A New Injury Concern Before Michigan Showdown
Penn State got a little clarity, and a little more uncertainty, when the Big Ten-mandated availability reports came out ahead of Saturdays trip to Ann Arbor. Two starters were upgraded and removed from the report, which is the kind of update every staff wants to see this time of year, but a starting wide receiver was added as questionable, leaving the Nittany Lions with one more situation to monitor before they face Michigan.
Michigans report stayed unchanged, with players still spread across probable, questionable, doubtful and out designations. Penn State will have two more availability reports before kickoff, so the picture could shift again before the Nittany Lions take the field in one of the biggest games on their schedule. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Offense May Be Forced Into A Shakeup At Worst Time
Penn States offense is still searching for a cleaner rhythm after a stretch in which the scoring has dried up at the wrong time. Offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser pointed to a few of the issues that have piled up, from the teams production in three Big Ten losses to the absence of wide receiver Koby Howard because of injury, all while the unit has continued to fight through red zone inconsistency.
Mouser also left open the possibility of changes up front, and freshman receiver Amarion Jackson could see more opportunities as the staff looks for a spark. The Nittany Lions have turned 14 of 26 trips inside the 20 into touchdowns, a mark that reflects both the promise and the frustration of an offense trying to find answers before the schedule gets any tighter. [Read more 🡒]