Matt Campbell’s first six games at Penn State have already produced a familiar kind of disappointment. The Nittany Lions sit at 3-3 overall and 0-3 in Big Ten play after Saturday night’s 31-23 loss to USC, a game played before the largest crowd in Beaver Stadium history.
Afterward, Campbell opened by addressing the fan base, then settled into the kind of postgame language coaches lean on when the results aren’t there yet. “I think my disappointment is that we can’t give them the result that they deserve. But the reality is we will, and we will find a pathway forward.”
That was quickly followed by another line that will ring familiar to Penn State supporters only six games into the Campbell era: “We do have great humans in that locker room that stand for what’s right, and there was growth forward. We’re not where we need to be yet, but we are growing forward, and we’ll demand a pathway forward.”
The phrase “stand for what’s right” lands hard because it sounds like the kind of old-school college football thinking that no longer matches the sport’s current reality. In the NIL and revenue-sharing era, the very forces some coaches are still treating like a threat are the ones shaping how championship teams get built.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with using the transfer portal. Campbell did exactly that this offseason, bringing in much of his roster from Iowa State.
And there’s nothing wrong with players making millions in a sport that has generated billions for years off their labor. If college football is finally giving players a share and more leverage after lawsuits knocked down the NCAA’s amateurism rules, that’s not the system breaking down.
That’s the labor force getting a piece of what it helped create.
Players choosing to stay in school and earn degrees has value, sure. But if a player sees a better financial opportunity elsewhere, it’s hard to call that “wrong” with a straight face.
That’s the market. That’s the modern game.
The deeper concern for Penn State is whether Campbell is still operating with an old playbook while the sport has already moved on. Coaches who keep talking about doing things “the right way” or building “the right way” are often talking about the old way, whether they mean to or not. And that approach is getting left behind.
That doesn’t mean Penn State’s rough start is entirely about Campbell’s philosophy. He was hired after the early signing period, and the timing left him heavily dependent on his former Iowa State players to piece together the roster. But if he doesn’t use this offseason to lean harder into the portal and remake the team, the program could be staring at a longer rebuild than anyone wanted.
And in a sport where Curt Cignetti turned Indiana into a 16-0 national champion in Year 2 and Bob Chesney has UCLA humming in Year 1, waiting too long to adapt can be the difference between catching up and falling behind for good.
In Other News...
West Virginia Just Got A Brutal Early 2026 Forecast
West Virginias outlook for 2026 is already drawing a cool reception from ESPNs Football Power Index, which sees a long climb ahead for the Mountaineers. The model pegs them at roughly 4.4 wins and 7.6 losses, a forecast that suggests a season spent fighting uphill rather than contending near the top of the Big 12.
The projection is even less encouraging when it comes to the bigger goals. ESPN gives West Virginia only a 14.6% shot at reaching six wins, while the chances of taking the conference or reaching the College Football Playoff are essentially nonexistent. The game-by-game forecast also paints a matchup-by-matchup picture of where the obstacles are likely to come, with historical context adding to the sense that the schedule is not likely to offer much relief. [Read more 🡒]
WVUs Offense Did Enough But One Problem Is Getting Hard To Ignore
West Virginia moved the ball well enough against Arizona to pile up more than 500 yards of offense, yet still walked away with a 52-31 loss in a game that exposed how little margin there is when the other side keeps answering. It was only the fourth time in program history the Mountaineers lost despite reaching that yardage mark, a reminder that big numbers on one side of the ball can still get swallowed up by breakdowns elsewhere.
The Pro Football Focus grades from the game pointed straight at the problem areas, with the defensive line and cornerback play drawing especially rough reviews. There were also some shaky showings among the wide receivers, which only added to a night when West Virginias offense did enough to stay in it but the defense never found a way to slow Arizona down. [Read more 🡒]
Rich Rodriguez Sounds Off As WVUs Biggest Problem Keeps Growing
West Virginias season has reached a familiar and frustrating point in Big 12 play, with the offense doing enough to keep games competitive while the defense keeps surrendering too many big plays and too much yardage. The imbalance has left Rich Rodriguez with a team that can move the ball but has not been able to put together the kind of complete performance needed to break through in league play.
Rodriguez has made clear his frustration with how little progress the defense has shown, even as the staff continues to work at fixing it. For a team still searching for its first Big 12 win, the issue has gone from a weekly concern to the defining problem of the season, and there is no easy answer until the Mountaineers start getting more stops. [Read more 🡒]