It got old with James Franklin in Happy Valley. Everyone was tired of it and wanted more. It reached its breaking point against Oregon around this time last year, and spiraled after that.
It seemed everyone, from athletic director Pat Kraft to Franklin himself, was ready for the era to come to an end, but a loss like the one Penn State suffered at Beaver Stadium in Matt Campbell’s Big Ten debut against Wisconsin, 24-20, was always the risk Penn State ran when it decided to move on from Franklin.
It was a bit overstated that ‘Franklin always wins the games he’s supposed to.’ He had a losing season in 2020 and went just 7-6 as recently as 2021. But for the most part, since then, Franklin did win all the games he was supposed to, and now that he’s at Virginia Tech, he’s doing the same.
Matt Campbell was never a reliable favorite
Matt Campbell was never that coach. In fairness, he was at an under-resourced program at Iowa State, where he was more known for jumping up and biting the bigger programs with upset wins. But he had never won a conference title, and wasn’t historically a reliable favorite. In Week 4, Penn State learned why.
Campbell was egregiously conservative. Before the final drive of the game, when Penn State was in desperation mode after blowing the lead, Penn State had gone three-and-out on four straight possessions with a tentative offensive approach, allowing Wisconsin to chip its way back into the game.
That’s not even to mention when Penn State took over the ball with 1:16 left in the second quarter, ahead 17-7 thanks to a pick-six from Josiah Zayas and a short field provided by Wisconsin quarterback Colton Joseph’s second of three interceptions, and sat on the ball rather than trying to score points.
Campbell had all three timeouts and the most experienced quarterback in the country, and didn’t trust him to go after a Wisconsin defense that is only a few weeks removed from allowing Notre Dame to hang 41 points.
Two years ago, Penn State was one drive away from beating Notre Dame for a spot in the national championship game. On Saturday, it just lost to a team the Irish pounded by four touchdowns.
The harsh reality is that Penn State isn’t in Notre Dame’s neighborhood anymore. Not even close. Last season was ugly, a 3-3 start was unacceptable, but Franklin had Penn State humming. Now, it will take some time to get back there, if Campbell ever does.
Penn State wanted to reset - This is what that looks like
You can’t judge a coaching change by one loss. This isn’t even to say Penn State was wrong for firing Franklin or that Campbell was a bad hire. It’s just to say that this is what change looks like. Even in the transfer portal era, where you can import a roster, which Campbell largely did, change is hard, and it’s often messy.
Franklin was probably never going to get over the hump at Penn State. So why would Campbell be expected to in Year 1? He’s not. A soft schedule gave the fanbase dreams of a College Football Playoff appearance, and that was probably a justifiable expectation.
However, Campbell is a developer. He’s a program builder. It’s going to take time and more resources for Penn State to reach the ceiling Kraft believes exists for this program. Penn State and Wisconsin spent a nearly identical amount on their rosters this year. Fickell is in Year 4. It’s not outlandish that Penn State lost this game, even if a 9.5-point spread and a No. 13 ranking make it seem that way.
Campbell deserves some patience. But this was about as rough a start as you can imagine. Not to mention that it came with 60+ recruits in the building. Recruits he needs to convince that he can win a national championship, not allow Penn State to sink into the Big Ten middle class.
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