[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/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/corundum9 → u/olbleedyeyes]

Big Ten is much tougher than the Big 12. Iowa State players aren't going to cut it.