No. 13 Penn State got a wake-up call on Saturday. The Nittany Lions (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten) gave up a 17-0 lead after halftime and allowed Wisconsin to hold them to a field goal while putting up 24 points of its own in the second half.
Head coach Matt Campbell said after the game that his team "left it to chance" and "had so many opportunities to put the game away" in the back half of the contest, which is true, but the struggles weren't exclusive to the second half.
The offense, especially, had a particularly unproductive day while the defense couldn't sustain its first half success out of halftime. The Badgers saw an opportunity and they took it and took the win out of Penn State's hands while they were at it, too.
The Nittany Lions weren't prepared. It's not like they weren't prepared for USC or Michigan, either. They weren't ready for Wisconsin.
The Iowa State East narrative will pick up a lot of steam following this loss, but there's an underlying problem that's been the case since before Campbell arrived in Happy Valley.
Penn State's struggles could've been solved sooner without the cupcake schedule
Penn State's non-conference schedule has been packed with cupcakes games for years. As a result, the team always looks much better and much more put together than it really is. The drop-off from the first three weeks of the 2026 season to Week 4 was a bit drastic and clearer than previous years, and that should be the final straw when it comes to the cupcake slate.
If Campbell is serious about getting this program back into national title contention, a 3-0 start vs. the same kind of non-conference schedule won't cut it. This season is a bit of an outlier given the number of Iowa State transfers who hadn't faced Big Ten opponents consistently, but Campbell should want to test his team early no matter what.
Rather than it be all sunshine and rainbows the first three weeks, the Nittany Lions should know exactly what their flaws are in order to fix them sooner rather than later. A tougher non-conference slate gives Campbell at least one extra week to sort things out.
Starting 3-0 is great for the soul, but not for the season if they get a confidence crusher immediately after the non-conference slate. Especially vs. a team like Wisconsin, that's a tough mental blow to take as well as a tough loss to get hit with in a schedule that looks quite easy in comparison to others in the conference.
The cupcake schedule will never look good to the committee and never paint Campbell and Co. an accurate picture of what the team is. A tougher non-conference slate might not yield a 3-0 record every season, and that's fine. A loss to a stronger opponent doesn't hold as much weight as a loss to a weaker opponent. If a national title is the goal for Penn State, the entire schedule should reflect it.
Add us as a preferred source on Google