Penn State has swapped out the familiar “1-0” banner in the south tunnel of Beaver Stadium for a new message that reaches back to the Joe Paterno era: “Success With Honor.”
Matt Campbell addressed the change during his weekly press conference late Tuesday morning, and he made it clear he sees the phrase as more than just decoration.
“I’m not a big slogan guy, I don’t have a lot of great slogans, but one thing I know is to continue to pay honor to what’s come before us.”
He tied the banner to the program’s identity and to the people who built it.
“When you talk to these former players and the guys that have come through here, what that value system has meant to this program, that I just felt in absolute alignment with that value, and I think it means exactly what it should mean here at Penn State.”
That answer matched what Campbell has said before about embracing Penn State’s tradition. In an exclusive interview with NSN this summer, he said he believes he and his staff have “one of the great opportunities of all time to continue to unify and align this.”
“I don’t know if there’s a greater tradition, both on and off the field of excellence, than what Penn State football is,” Campbell said. “I feel like we’ve made great headway, and at the end of the day, we continue to sprint to work every day to represent this program and its history the right way.”
The banner isn’t the only nod to that past. Beaver Stadium also has a more understated tribute in Section 409, which uses a blue background while the other sections remain white, recognizing Paterno’s NCAA record win total.
Penn State plays Temple on Saturday at noon on ESPN 2 in Lincoln Financial Field.
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Campbell has framed it as a matter of respecting where the program came from and the value system that helped shape it. Still, the move naturally invites a bigger conversation about how Penn State balances celebration of its football lineage with the scrutiny that comes with it, and how far the program is willing to go in reconnecting with one of the most defining figures in its history. [Read more 🡒]