Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1546159
SEPTEMBER 2026/VOL. 42, NO. 1 MANAGING EDITOR Matt Herb CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Stu Coman, Steve Downey Cathy Jones, Chris Riffer WEBSITE PUBLISHER Sean Fitz WEBSITE EDITOR Nate Bauer STAFF WRITER Greg Pickel RECRUITING REPORTER Ryan Snyder FOOTBALL ANALYST Thomas Frank Carr CONTRIBUTING WRITER Jim Carlson PHOTOGRAPHY Steve Manuel, Mark Selders, Frank Hyatt COVER PHOTO Mark Selders/Penn State Athletics DESIGN Jeanette Blankenship Chris Miller F F F PUBLISHER Jeanette Blankenship BUSINESS ANALYST Sarah Boone CIRCULATION COORDINATOR Beverly Taylor MARKETING COORDINATOR Elena Rehberg ADVERTISING SALES Maria Taustine (502) 552-4390 CUSTOMER SERVICE: (800) 421-7751 Elena Rehberg, Cathy Jones BLUE WHITE ILLUSTRATED (USPS 742-550) is published monthly, except June, by Coman Publishing Co., a division of On3 Sports, LLC,located at 922 Broad St., Suite D, Durham, NC 27705. A one-year (11 issues) subscription is $75.00. First-class, digital and foreign rates available on request. Periodicals postage paid at Durham, NC 27701 and additional mailing offices. Printed by The Papers, Milford, Ind. POSTMASTER: Please send address correc- tions/changes to BLUE WHITE ILLUSTRATED, PO Box 2331, Durham NC 27702-2331. For advertising or subscription information call 1-919-688-0218 or write BLUE WHITE ILLUS- TRATED, PO Box 2331, Durham NC 27702-2331. Site Lines C O M M E N T S F R O M T H E L I O N S D E N A T B L U E W H I T E I L L U S T R A T E D . C O M W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M PROJECTING PENN STATE'S WIN TOTAL IN 2026 … I can't see one reason why PSU cannot go 10-2 or 11-1 or even 12-0 in 2026. The table could not have been set any better, the same as it was for Indiana in 2024 — very weak schedule and lots of transfers. — SJLuvsLions I like the optimism, but obviously there are so many unknowns to attach to any meaningless preseason poll or data. The reality is, they can win every game on the schedule. Will they? Likely no. But a lot of opportunity this year. — Case_Psu I sense it will play tougher than it might appear. I see five games that we could absolutely lose. Of course, that includes Michigan, USC and Washington. But Northwestern beat us last year and put a physical beatdown on us, and Minnesota is always a difficult game. If not for the fake punt, they may have beaten us in 2024, and we would have never even made the playoff. I agree it's fortunate we miss the big three, but would it be a shock if Michigan or USC finished in the top three in the conference? I don't think so. — Ceasar It's time to get over the hump and win a few big games. 10-2 would most likely mean losses to Michigan and USC. — bigoleguffer Being favored in 11 games does not mean you will most likely win 11 games. If that's not intuitive, consider the extreme example of a team with a 50.1 percent chance of winning each game in a 100-game schedule. Odds are, they won't go 100-0 even though they are favored to win each game. — _Doc Great schedule for sure. Add in a promising staff that's new to the Valley hoping to get on the same page very quickly along with a crap ton of dudes wearing blue and white for the first time, and what do you have? Not too sure, but the Kool-Aid tastes good right now. So many unknowns. Really looking forward to it. — Jackknife Jonnie It's really a scenario of playoff or bust given the schedule. Does the team currently have the person- nel to reach 10 wins? Really depends primarily on Rocco Becht, which was the biggest decision to date for Matt Campbell. Becht has reached his high point. There really appears to be no upside to where he goes from here, but he has experience to win close games and has Campbell's trust. — Tgar In my opinion, until we get a feel for the team, every game is a trap game. — Train027 ON THE NITTANY LIONS' RECRUITING CHALLENGES … Matt Campbell is between a rock and a hard place. It's naive and dangerous to think he can win games consistently if the talent level declines. He brought the best players from Iowa State with him, so that and the schedule give him a get-out-of-jail-free card for one season. Suppose they're not good enough to win consistently in a conference that is clearly a step up? What does the plan become then? If it's still a matter of picking our spots [to spend for recruits], I'd rather that be by choice than by necessity." — grap54 I don't know what people expect. When kids leave an official visit and tell you that they're com- mitting, the staff has done their job. They can't control agents using that info to keep shopping players around. You absolutely HAVE to have a ceiling on how much you are willing to pay, with maybe a few exceptions. … A lot of these kids will transfer multiple times, so how much do you in- vest in a complete crapshoot? There has to be common sense used in these decisions. — gfour18 If we make the playoff, which many of us expect based on the schedule, then recruiting will take off (a bit). If we miss the playoff this year, we will find ourselves in a bad spot with respect to roster talent vs. schedule moving forward. — RunTheBall Winning always helps, but our recruiting after our semifinal CFP performance was not espe- cially impressive. My feeling — and it is little more than that right now — is that Campbell and company have a clear idea of how they want to build a team. I get that same sense from all the reporting here [by BWI]. I agree it is essential to start off with a good year of winning 10 games. Beyond that, Campbell needs a regular recruiting cycle and some time in the region to show what he can do. — Stephen Light 4 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 6