Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1547107
NOVEMBER 2026/VOL. 42, NO. 3 MANAGING EDITOR Matt Herb CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Stu Coman, Steve Downey, David Wasson, 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 Steve Manuel DESIGN Jeanette Blankenship Chris Miller F F F PUBLISHER Jeanette Blankenship BUSINESS ANALYST Sarah Boone CIRCULATION COORDINATOR Beverly Taylor ADVERTISING AND MARKETING Elena Rehberg CUSTOMER SERVICE: (800) 421-7751 Lacey Perry, Elena Rehberg, Cathy Jones magazines@on3.com 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. Periodical 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 ON PENN STATE'S DIFFICULTIES IN THE NIL ECONOMY … Hear me out, folks. As long as PSU was "successful" (e.g. 8-4, 9-3) this season with a middle-of-the- road NIL budget, the powers that be would simply be thinking, "Great, no need to do much more than this." … Might this perfect storm of an underperforming team coupled with real pressure to get a winning product on the field prompt folks at the top of PSU to say, "We're going to make a commitment to be top three in NIL in the Big Ten?" All I'm saying is, a 9-3 record this season would likely lead to the status quo. With an under-.500 season, fans pissed off, and Pat Kraft and Matt Campbell having big-time contracts that we can't buy out so easily, the cheapest near-term solution might be to double our NIL budget. — tml132 I get what you're saying, but unless fundraising changes, I do not see that happening. The solution [is to be] known as a team with great coaching that can attract recruits through wins. — JohnBeckwith1 I genuinely love the optimism, but no chance. There are too many alumni who are still in the "a college degree plus room and board should be enough." See: Most of Section NE. — Admiral Nelson Crowdfunding NIL here is a lost cause. There's no hidden supply of money just waiting to be tapped into. The people who want to do it are already doing it. The people who aren't, aren't for a reason. Our best bet is to maximize every possible corporate sponsorship deal we can find. And then after that, pray the government steps in and regulates college football. Otherwise, I don't see things get- ting better for us. — psuhv610 Getting very close to the top is far more likely to get people to open up to get us the rest of the way. Say we go 7-5. Nobody is going to pony up massive amounts not knowing if that gets us to 9-3 or 12-0. If we had gotten to 11-1, then people could see the light. — PSU Mike We lost to Wisconsin and got blown out by Northwestern. NIL isn't the problem. The whole "we don't have enough NIL" is a smoke screen. Let me clue you in on something. We will never know the exact amount of NIL, and we will never hear the day when they will say we have plenty. — pamdlion A lot of kids are now in a "show me the money" mode. If you pay them, they will come. Early play- ing time is also an enticement. Beaver Stadium is still iconic and huge. Even at 20 percent empty, there are still 85,000 fans. — Jason1743 If they were capable of raising more money, they would already be doing it. — 225E.Prospect I would argue that a low player-compensation budget is exactly why we have no difference-makers on this team. They need to pay for four to six Tier 1 players, even if it means overpaying. Or we go somewhere between 4-8 and 7-5 every year. It is stupid to have a $700 million stadium renovation and put a team on the field that nobody wants to watch. — Countrylion I don't know why posters here continue to say this is not a problem when every single data point from people paid to know the market tells you we are in the 20-25 range in NIL. If that works for you, great! We'll probably get results that look like a 20-25 type team, which includes some 7-5 or 6-6 seasons in the down years and a 9-3 season as a peak. Or you can continue to put your head in the sand and act like it's all some huge mystery. The folks here have told you what our front office folks think our standing is. National reporters have told you the same thing. I'm sure they are all just wrong, though, and we aren't actually 25 to 50 percent lower than the teams that folks here expect us to beat. — PSU2772 Anyone who donates any money to NIL is a fool. Imagine how ridiculous it would be if Jerry Jones crowdsourced money to sign Joey Porter Jr. to an extension before trading for him. It is not the fan's responsibility to pay the player, who may not even care about PSU, be any good, play in a bowl, or be around the following year. — BQN We do need some top-100 recruits and difference makers on both sides of the ball. Matt Camp- bell really didn't have a choice but to bring in Iowa State players the way it all played out. The roster was gutted, and the recruiting class was lost. I think we were all hoping for the best with this roster. — SueandDave 4 N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 6