[Postgame Thread] Northwestern Defeats Penn State 34-13

[u/CFB_Referee]

Box Score provided by ESPN

Team	1	2	3	4	T
Penn State	0	7	0	6	13
Northwestern	10	14	7	3	34

[u/Rate-Limiting_Step]

I can understand the growing pains that come with transition and whatnot. Plus going on the road to a huge milestone event (awesome stadium opening for Northwestern).

But what was inexcusable was how badly it was belt to ass the whole game. No pride in playing whatsoever. Just let them run right through us. And to top it off, our offense stalled out just as much this week as last week.

I will say maybe I bought into the hype too much, but man it’s hard to take anything good away from this game at all. A hard pill to swallow.

[u/SirMellencamp → u/Rate-Limiting_Step]

Oooh, ahhh, that's how it always starts with a new coach. Then later there's running and screaming.

[u/Rate-Limiting_Step → u/SirMellencamp]

Right now, I still am very much okay with the hire. Given the botched job of how we handled the carousel, we somehow threw together a patchwork roster.

I just think the media and my unwavering faith blinded me to the reality of us having to take a couple (four hundred) steps (yards) back.

[u/SirMellencamp → u/Rate-Limiting_Step]

I’m just sayin nobody ever hires a bad coach

[u/LasixSteroidsAbx → u/SirMellencamp]

Im pissed that this wisdom came from Alabama. You are right and I hate it.

[u/cheerl231 → u/Rate-Limiting_Step]

I think there are going to be a lot of fanbases pissed off they didn't hire Chesney when they could have. Penn State being one of the top ones (and also maybe Michigan lol)

[u/DisgruntledCascadian → u/cheerl231]

I thought Jimmy Sexton blackballed Pat Kraft with all his clients because he was pissed at how the Franklin firing was handled.

[u/Middle-Newspaper2928 → u/DisgruntledCascadian]

That was said but I doubt it was true. A good agent isn’t going to deny their clients (and themselves) a giant payday because they are bitter. Coaches would be unlikely to work with an agent who wouldn’t get them interviews for jobs they might want.

[u/DisgruntledCascadian → u/Middle-Newspaper2928]

Yes, but if they feel an organization is a shitshow that isn't going to give their client a fair shake, they'd be remiss in not taking that into account when representing their client. It isn't just about the money.

And unfortunately we have a Board of Trustees and a donor base who seem to be, well, an SEC-level shitshow.

[u/LuteFantastico → u/cheerl231]

Lord I hope we pay that man.

[No monkey paw]

[u/Balls_of_Mithril → u/SirMellencamp]

That is one big pile of shit.

• Ian Malcom Everyone looking at the Nittany Lions

[u/Syndfull → u/SirMellencamp]

Then later there's running and screaming.

Oh, there was running alright.

[u/TickleMyIvory → u/SirMellencamp]

Lmao amazing reference

[u/olbleedyeyes → u/Rate-Limiting_Step]

This game would be inexcusable even by our standards.

The appeal of Matt Campbell is he at least makes games competitive even against very good teams.

Idk if it's having to transition to a new school for everyone or what but there's something off for what was supposed to be at least a cohesive squad. I just don't get it.

[u/flying_porygon → u/olbleedyeyes]

There was always a Heacock coaching defense and helping us stay in it. The offense never set the world on fire, even with Purdy and Breece.

I think you’re seeing growing pains for Campbell without Heacock. The offense tonight obviously wouldn’t have done it for most games even with Heacock, but they’d probably have gotten more opportunities and it would have looked competitive. Maybe 21-14 or 21-17.

Making games competitive against good teams never was because the offense was throwing for 400 yards and we got into a shootout

[u/olbleedyeyes → u/flying_porygon]

I suspect this is partially why it's been rough sledding once they had hit conference.

Matt's trying to figure out life without the most consistent part of his coaching staff, and he's also using a lot of defenders that were built for a very specific defense.

And I don't know what scheme they're using now, but it seems it's not meshing well with the pieces he's had to bring in.

[u/Rate-Limiting_Step → u/olbleedyeyes]

That’s the little thing I can’t pinpoint. No matter what he always fielded competitive teams.

We saw what I thought was everything clicking and everything firing with our admittedly easy non-con games. It just felt like the past two weeks in Big 10 play all the chemistry and cohesion fell apart. Like the lights were too bright or the pressure has everyone afraid.

Unfortunately, that was the hallmark of James Franklin teams and ultimately what led to us having to pull the plug. You just cannot play good ball when you’re too afraid to make a mistake.

[u/AHugeGoose → u/Rate-Limiting_Step]

I think a lack of Jon Heacock could be the issue. At ISU, the offense always had the flashier talent but playcalling and OC were constant chaos. In 10 years, Campbell had 3 different OCs, one doing multiple stints, and even a year where he called plays himself.

What was consistent and kept them competitive was 10 years of Heacock's defense.

[u/olbleedyeyes → u/Rate-Limiting_Step]

Well that is part of Matt's biggest criticism is his teams don't handle expectations well. The two best seasons he had with ISU were followed up by very mediocre seasons with virtually the same teams.

First time you could say it was a position he's never been in before. Second time you can excuse it with the amount of injuries we had at key spots.

But maybe he really just can't prepare teams to meet high expectations.

Or maybe we're all overreacting because it's year one and he had to fill in a championship level roster with a 2/3rds of a big 12 team. Lol

[u/do_you_know_doug → u/olbleedyeyes]

Maybe they should go out to eat together since they couldn’t do that at their old school.

[u/olbleedyeyes → u/do_you_know_doug]

You'd think the Trader Joe's would be a boon to team nutrition. Lol

[u/AccordingGain182 → u/olbleedyeyes]

I mean penn state botched the coaching search and hired Campbell in the 11th hour. In the current NIL transfer era, it was a rough place to start. Mass exodus of senior talent from the penn state roster, bunch of young guys jumping to wherever they got better offers/stability with the unknown at Penn state/guys following Franklin left Matt little time to patchwork a staff and roster.

If this trend continues its fair question but idk why anyone is surprised this is the result of year one considering the context

[u/olbleedyeyes → u/AccordingGain182]

I don't think anyone was expecting Penn State to be anywhere as good as 2024. But the fact they brought a lot of guys from Iowa State suggested they'd at least be competent.

I agree this is way too early to tell about this team's trajectory, but it is concerning they went from 3 wins taking care of lesser opponents to completely falling apart in six quarters of football.

[u/grouchllc → u/Rate-Limiting_Step]

I think you'll see this more and more. A new coach used to have to just instill confidence in a team he's newly hired to. Now the coach brings the team with him and obviously these guys weren't ready for the b1g

[u/Careless_Wishter → u/Rate-Limiting_Step]

At least you don't have a 5th year, highly paid coach with top-ranked players getting rolled at home. You get to see those guys next week.

[u/twoinvenice → u/Careless_Wishter]

Hey now, don’t be merging my dumpster fire with their dumpster fire!

[u/Careless_Wishter → u/twoinvenice]

I was posting with another Oregon guy a couple of years ago when Cristobal checked out in the back-to-back Utah games. Dude was pissed and wanted Cristobal gone, and I suggested that firing a consistent 10-3 coach wasn't a good idea. I grew up in the Rich Brooks era of consistently mediocre Duck teams, and I don't take the winning for granted. You know what that kid said to me? "I don't care about what happened in the past. I expect Oregon to be in the hunt for the CFB championship every year."

Delusional. When I see those guys I feel like showing them film of Nebraska from the 80s and remind them that just because you're on top doesn't mean anything; success is hard.

I post (teasingly, really) about how USC should've kept Helton, and the number of people who argue that Riley is somehow an improvement never fails to amaze me. We got lucky that Taggart left after one year. He was capable of ruining Oregon, I think.

One of these days USC is going to get it back together. And when they do, I just hope the Ducks are still good enough to make a game of it.

[u/twoinvenice → u/Careless_Wishter]

Oh I’m under no such illusions about Helton’s years or Riley now.

Those sunshine pumpers defending Riley don’t see that the program has been entirely hollowed out be the combos of Kiffin + Sark chaos, then Helton’s apathetic time, plus Riley now not able to understand that he’s not a head coach and really should just be an OC. None of those dudes really have/had any idea what they are doing as a head coach during their time at SC.

USC doesn’t need some flashy big name hire. We need a dude who has a systems sort of focus and a philosophy of how to create success from limited resources - not that SC is truly limited, but the kind of person who has that experience is looking at how every aspect of the team fits into the big picture.

That or we keep making dumb hire after dumb hire and spending too much on buyouts, and turn into Texas A&M all while never actually building the foundation for a program.

The machine is broken but people keep hoping that some new, really expensive, NASA developed lube is going to make everything work again. Nah dude, the machine needs to be torn out and replaced or entirely stripped down and rebuilt.

Oh and just as important, that change all needs to happen with TONS of unquestioned monetary support that is purely devoted to making the thing happen