Three games in, Penn State is still hard to pin down, and that leaves Matt Campbell doing the only thing he can do: obsess over the flaws.
The Nittany Lions moved to 3-0 with a 55-13 win over Buffalo, and the box score looks the part of a team handling weak non-conference opposition. Penn State is ranked No. 14, but that number still feels more like a placeholder than a verdict. Until the Big Ten schedule shows up, nobody really knows what this team is.
That uncertainty is why Campbell has latched onto the negatives. After Week 2, it was the run game, which he and his staff said was “a hair off.” Penn State answered in Week 3 by rushing for 269 yards, averaging 7.8 yards per carry, and getting touchdowns from three of its four primary running backs while the fourth topped 100 yards.
So this week, the issue is penalties. Campbell called them “really disappointing,” and he added, “When you're playing the way, physically, we want to play, you've got to be elite at the finish.
We weren't that today.” Penn State was flagged eight times for 96 yards.
Not all penalties are created equal, though. Some are just the kind that happen when an offensive lineman can’t stay in front of a pass rusher or a corner gets beat and has to grab. In a game like this, those are often more about matchups than carelessness, and there’s little reason to think Buffalo exposed some massive discipline issue.
Half of Penn State’s penalties came from backups, too, and those players probably won’t be on the field next week against Wisconsin. That matters. It’s one thing to want cleaner football; it’s another to pretend the first-team unit was spiraling into sloppy pre-snap mistakes against Buffalo.
Still, Campbell can’t shrug it off. A 3-0 start against this kind of schedule can lull a team into thinking it has everything figured out, and Penn State has already lived through that sort of slide. Last season, the Nittany Lions dropped to 3-3 after opening 3-0 against Group of Six opponents.
That’s why the next step matters so much. Against Marshall, Temple, and Buffalo, it’s tough to separate real progress from empty production. A sharp passing day or a productive ground game is nice, but it doesn’t tell you much until the competition rises.
Next week finally brings that chance. Penn State gets a real test, and that’s when the picture starts to clear.
For now, the early returns say the Nittany Lions look good - but they were supposed to. An 8-4 team or an 11-1 team would roll through this schedule, too.
In Other News...
Penn State Just Got Fresh Fuel For Its Scheduling Debate
Penn States home date with Buffalo in Week 3 still drew a massive crowd by most college football standards, but the official attendance of 103,817 was the smallest at Beaver Stadium since 2019, not counting the fan-less 2020 season. It arrived at a time when the Nittany Lions non-conference schedule is already under a microscope, with plenty of noise around whether the program should be pushing harder for more demanding early-season matchups.
Matt Campbell said he has not yet discussed scheduling with the athletic director, and that sort of ambiguity only adds to a conversation that is likely to keep coming back as the sport changes. With the playoff format now expanded, future scheduling decisions may be viewed through a different lens, and Penn State is right in the middle of the debate over whether strong gate numbers are enough when the conversation turns to resume-building games. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Has A Personal Reason To Mourn Ernie Accorsi
Penn State has another familiar NFL tie to reflect on with the death of Ernie Accorsi at 84, a longtime league executive whose influence stretched well beyond the front office. Before his work as general manager of the Giants, Colts and Browns made him one of footballs most respected builders, Accorsi had already left his mark in State College as a Penn State player, a connection that gives his passing a more personal weight for the program.
Accorsis football life was defined by the kind of moves that changed franchises, from helping bring Tom Coughlin to New York to helping set up the draft-day path to Eli Manning. The Giants later credited him with helping shape their 2007 Super Bowl run, and his place in multiple halls of fame reflects how widely he was admired across the sport, including by those who knew him long before his NFL fame. [Read more 🡒]
Chase Sowells Path To Penn State Says Plenty About Matt Campbell
Chase Sowells decision to head to Penn State says as much about Matt Campbell as it does about the wide receivers own priorities. According to Sowells father, the receiver passed on bigger money from other schools, including Florida, to play for Campbell, a detail that fits the larger picture around this move. Campbell has long carried a reputation for building real trust with his players, and Penn State looks to be benefiting from that pull.
The Nittany Lions have already seen plenty of Iowa State players follow Campbell to State College, a sign that the coachs influence travels well beyond one roster. For Penn State, that kind of loyalty matters because it can help make a transition feel less like a reset and more like a continuation of something already established. Sowells path adds another layer to that trend, even if the full impact of the move will take time to sort out. [Read more 🡒]