Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1545675
1 0 0 A U G U S T 2 0 2 6 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M E D I T O R I A L MATT HERB MATT.HERB@ON3.COM VARSITY VIEWS F ew people outside of Bloomington likely cared or even noticed when Indiana opened its 2024 season with a 31-7 victory over Florida Inter- national. The Hoosiers were unranked in the preseason polls, as usual, and the only real attention they'd received in the offseason came when new coach Curt Cignetti, speaking at his intro- ductory presser the previous Decem- ber, laid out his message to prospective recruits. "It's pretty simple," he said. "I win. Google me." There's no need to consult a search engine to know what happened next. After inheriting the losingest pro- gram in the FBS, Cignetti and his staff guided it to a College Football Playoff berth in Year 1 and a national champi- onship in Year 2. In the process, they gave hope to all the programs around the country that don't sign top-10 recruiting classes annually and don't have a blank check with which to pluck elite players out of the transfer portal whenever they find themselves with a hole to fill. Some of those programs have enough historical cachet and fan support to make their own championship aspirations feel plausible. Penn State is one of them. There's a risk, of course, in citing the most inconceivable turnaround in the history of major-college athletics as a useful template for other programs to emulate. More to the point, it's risky for the coaches of other programs to find themselves in a situation where they are expected to emulate what Indi- ana did. There just aren't a lot of Curt Cignettis out there. In fact, there might not be any. He may be one of one. And yet, the Nittany Lions have an opportunity in front of them that parallels the one their Big Ten rival took advantage of in 2024. Like Indi- ana, they have a schedule that gives them a chance for a fast getaway. Nonconference opponents Marshall, Temple and Buffalo went a combined 15-21 last season, and the Lions' first two Big Ten foes, Wiscon- sin and Northwestern, went 11-14. It's not inconceivable that Penn State's home game against USC on Oct. 10 will be a battle of unbeatens, giving Matt Campbell's first PSU team a platform to showcase its growth on a national stage. If it's a White Out, all the better. Two years ago, Indiana rode its early momentum to an 11-2 finish, and its stunning turnaround did wonders for the program as a proof of concept. It gave the Hoosiers the credibility they needed to sign Fernando Mendoza, the No. 14 player and No. 4 quarterback in the transfer portal last year, per On3. Mendoza was the type of prospect that a program like Indiana could never have dreamed of luring to Bloomington in years past, but he saw what Cignetti was building and wanted to be part of it. At Penn State, Campbell has tried to build a team that can be nationally competitive right away. He brought in the quarterback he knows best in red- shirt senior Rocco Becht, along with 23 other players from his previous school, Iowa State. That, too, mirrors the ap- proach Cignetti took when he invited 13 of his former James Madison players to join him at Indiana. Becht has only one season of eligibil- ity remaining, and while the Nittany Lions also welcomed redshirt freshman Alex Manske from Iowa State, there's a chance they'll be quarterback shopping when the portal opens next January. What will their pitch look like? Will they be able to sell themselves as a ris- ing power in the Big Ten, the kind of program that can compete at a cham- pionship level while also showcasing players' pro potential? This season could help PSU create that narrative. More money would help, too. Indiana, after all, is an outlier as a national champion in the NIL era. Previous champs Michigan and Ohio State are big spenders relative to their peers, as is Oregon, one of the favorites to win the 2026 title. According to The Sporting News, there are six teams in college football this year with rosters valued at more than $40 million, and Penn State is most definitely not one of them. Its roster was recently estimated by Col- lege Football Front Office to be worth $25.6 million, a figure that ranked 20th nationally and sixth in the Big Ten. That roster will take the field for the first time when Penn State welcomes Marshall to Beaver Stadium on Sept. 5. It doesn't look like one of the big- ger games of Week 1 from a national perspective, but who knows how it will look in retrospect? For a PSU team that is getting set to reintroduce itself to the college football world, it could be the start of something big. ■ Short-Term Success Could Yield Long-Term Benefits Matt Campbell has gone 8-5 in season openers during his head coaching career. PHOTO BY RYAN SNYDER