Penn State’s players showed up Tuesday morning with a new message in their lockers, and it came straight from athletic director Pat Kraft.
Quarterback Rocco Becht and tight end Ben Brahmer were both wearing the same T-shirt late Tuesday morning, one the rest of the team had also been given. The front of it carried a simple directive: Own the outcome.
Brahmer explained that Kraft was the one behind it.
“Mr. Kraft gave us (the shirts) with a note in our little lockers. So just owning the outcome and understanding that we gotta control what we can control and continue working as hard as we can in practice, and own whatever happens to us on Saturdays,” Brahmer said.
The gesture fits the way Kraft has operated around the Penn State program. He is not a distant figure in the background; he’s on the sideline for every game and shows plenty of emotion when the moment calls for it. He also made the biggest football decision of his tenure last October, when he fired James Franklin in the middle of Franklin’s 12th season.
That move set off a coaching search that stretched nearly two months before Penn State hired Campbell. Early in his tenure, Campbell is 4-4 overall and 1-4 in the Big Ten.
Kraft’s involvement has stood out beyond the usual athletic director role, even if there’s no hard data to prove it. He has been visibly tied to the program, and his reaction to QB Drew Allar’s season-ending injury last year showed how personally he takes what happens around the team.
In Other News...
Virginia Tech Just Got A Harsh ACC Reality Check
Virginia Techs trip to Gerald J. Ford Stadium turned into a rough ACC reminder, as SMU rolled to a 51-28 win behind an offense that never seemed to let up. The Hokies were on the wrong end of a game that quickly tilted toward the Mustangs, who kept stringing together productive possessions and put Virginia Tech in chase mode for most of the afternoon.
Kevin Jennings was at the center of it, throwing for 350 yards and four touchdowns while wideouts Yamir Knight and Yannick Smith kept finding room all over the field. For Virginia Tech, the concern goes beyond one lopsided result, because SMUs balance and tempo exposed just how hard it can be to survive when an opponent is clicking from the opening series and never really cools off. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Tech Just Exposed A Bigger ACC Problem
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For Virginia Tech, the concern is not just the loss itself but what it suggested about the gap the Hokies have to close in a league where explosive offenses can quickly expose a defense. The passing attack never found a steady rhythm, and the Hokies now have a short turnaround before hosting Stanford on September 14, a chance to reset before this performance starts to linger as more than one bad afternoon. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Tech Just Delivered A Statement Win Fans Will Be Talking About
Virginia Techs womens soccer team went into Tallahassee on Thursday night and came away with the kind of result that can change the conversation around a season. The Hokies knocked off 10th-ranked Florida State, the defending NCAA champion, in a 2-1 win that carried the feel of a program making itself hard to ignore.
Eliana Salama delivered the decisive moment late, giving Virginia Tech the edge in the 81st minute and sealing a victory that will resonate well beyond one night in Florida. For a team looking to measure itself against the best, this was the sort of road performance that can stick with a locker room, even as the bigger picture of what it means for the Hokies keeps unfolding. [Read more 🡒]