I wonder if Coach Cambell should have focused on keeping last year's roster together...

[Marshall2323]

I think it was a little late for that, given the hiring process.

That said, another question is in this age re new coach hirings. Are the players he has access to (on his current team, and those he has verbals from) as important as the X's and O's of the coach to an impatient fan base?

Cig somehow turned this around 180 degrees w/ JMU kids no one wanted, but I think he will prove to be an outlier.

But just a few weeks ago I read right here that Campbell could find under recruited talent and coach em up better than anyone. No need for high priced prima donna 5 star talent. 5 star pansies, I believe they were labeled.
In reference to your question, great players have made great coaches infinitely more often than the other way around. You can't make chicken salad with chicken ****.

 

[Marshall2323]

and for 2027, we are recruiting at a #22 ranking ... 3 spots behind the guy we fired last year who took over a disaster of a program.

Sore point. Behind 5 or 6 teams in the conference.

 

[Marshall2323]

I like Campbell's hat

I like his shoe laces.

 

[rigi19041]

List all the big games BGJ won . He wasn't fired for no reason. He won what he should have. Otherwise, he was just an average phart looking for more and more money.

Good riddance.

Didn't lose to wisconsin.

Are going to ignore losing games you should win?

What big games do you expect Campbell to win this year?

 

[Chumboshifko1]

Didn't lose to wisconsin.

Are going to ignore losing games you should win?

What big games do you expect Campbell to win this year?

As many as he can. BGJ wasn't canned because he beat Wisconsin. Instead he beat his meat against good teams and constantly wanted more money.

Everyone was tired of Gimmie Jimmie. A whipstick.

 

[Chumboshifko1]

As many as he can. BGJ wasn't canned because he beat Wisconsin. Instead he beat his meat against good teams and constantly wanted more money.

Everyone was tired of Gimmie Jimmie. A whipstick.

Campbell lost one game. Are you a moron or what?

 

[KingLando]

Didn't lose to wisconsin.

Are going to ignore losing games you should win?

What big games do you expect Campbell to win this year?

This whole Franklin didn't lose to Wisconsin is the worst argument made. He lost to much worse teams including UCLA last year.

 

[Chumboshifko1]

This whole Franklin didn't lose to Wisconsin is the worst argument made. He lost to much worse teams including UCLA last year.

That is something we can agree with. Comparing BGJ to Campbell is like comparing a terd to a silver dollar. BGJ being the terd.

 

[rigi19041]

This whole Franklin didn't lose to Wisconsin is the worst argument made. He lost to much worse teams including UCLA last year.

This whole Franklin didn't lose to Wisconsin is the worst argument made. He lost to much worse teams including UCLA last year.

Campbell was losing g to northern Iowa and mid majors.

What big games do you expect Campbell to win this year?

 

[Chumboshifko1]

Campbell was losing g to northern Iowa and mid majors.

What big games do you expect Campbell to win this year?

You = dunce.

 

[KingLando]

Campbell was losing g to northern Iowa and mid majors.

What big games do you expect Campbell to win this year?

I dont think we have a "big game" this year. .
Most coaches at a program like Iowa State have lost those kinds of games. What is your point?
You don't need to like MC but making Franklin into something he wasn't is insane.

 

[saturdaysarebetter]

Are all you Franklin haters enjoying the coaching "upgrade"?

 

[Shadow99]

What did Iowa state do?

Apparently not much:

2026 Iowa State Cyclones Football Commits

2026 Iowa State Cyclones football team commit list.

www.on3.com

 

[rigi19041]

You = dunce.

What big games do you expect Campbell to win?

 

[rigi19041]

I dont think we have a "big game" this year. .
Most coaches at a program like Iowa State have lost those kinds of games. What is your point?
You don't need to like MC but making Franklin into something he wasn't is insane.

It is all relative. Psu plays usc and Michigan. Campbell wasn't brought here to just beat temple. There is also the playoffs.

If a coach does not play any big games is that a success?

 

[Chumboshifko1]

What big games do you expect Campbell to win?

I already told you, Turgis. Wake up.

 

[rigi19041]

I already told you, Turgis. Wake up.

I already told you, Turgis. Wake up.

Easiest schedule ever and you already know campbell is not making the playoffs

 

[KingLando]

It is all relative. Psu plays usc and Michigan. Campbell wasn't brought here to just beat temple. There is also the playoffs.

If a coach does not play any big games is that a success?

MC also wasn't brought here to win a title in year 1
If we beat Michigan and USC you'll say they weren't big games....
When we make the playoff under MC I'll wager we don't get SMU and/or Boise

 

[KingLando]

Easiest schedule ever and you already kncampbell is not making the playoffs

Why would anyone have us making the playoff this year? It's illogical. No national outlet had us that I can recall.
This was a rebuild year with or without Franklin.

 

[rigi19041]

MC also wasn't brought here to win a title in year 1
If we beat Michigan and USC you'll say they weren't big games....
When we make the playoff under MC I'll wager we don't get SMU and/or Boise

Did you count Franklin's wins vs Boise, smu, usc and Michigan as big wins?

 

[rigi19041]

Why would anyone have us making the playoff this year? It's illogical. No national outlet had us that I can recall.
This was a rebuild year with or without Franklin.

Only one team on the schedule ranked ahead of psu going into the season. Psu was ranked 14th last week. Just had to beat the Schools for the blind teams behind them. You spent all pre season telling us how soft this schedule was.

How many upset losses did you predict?

Cignetti would make tge playoffs with this team and this schedule

 

[KingLando]

Did you count Franklin's wins vs Boise, smu, usc and Michigan as big wins?

No--so why would I count them for MC?
I said--there's no "big games" this year
To clarify--sometimes Michigan could have been a big win for Franklin when they were on top

 

[KingLando]

Only one team on the schedule ranked ahead of psu going into the season. Psu was ranked 14th last week. Just had to beat the Schools for the blind teams behind them. You spent all pre season telling us how soft this schedule was.

How many upset losses did you predict?

Cignetti would make tge playoffs with this team and this schedule

You can't expect a team to make a playoff based on schedule not talent
14th isn't in the top 12, is it?
The schedule is soft--I've never said otherwise. I said we'd win 8 or 9 games
Cignetti may or may not--Franklin wouldn't--but Cignetti wasn't an option

 

[rigi19041]

You can't expect a team to make a playoff based on schedule not talent
14th isn't in the top 12, is it?
The schedule is soft--I've never said otherwise. I said we'd win 8 or 9 games
Cignetti may or may not--Franklin wouldn't--but Cignetti wasn't an option

You can't expect a team to make a playoff based on schedule not talent
14th isn't in the top 12, is it?
The schedule is soft--I've never said otherwise. I said we'd win 8 or 9 games
Cignetti may or may not--Franklin wouldn't--but Cignetti wasn't an option

Only need to be in the top 12 at end of regular season.

Top 12 play each other and knock each other out.



Campbell will never make tge playoffs from the b10.. He does not recruit well enough and he is an average coach.

 

[KingLando]

Only need to be in the top 12 at end of regular season.

Top 12 play each other and knock each other out.



Campbell will never make tge playoffs from the b10.. He does not recruit well enough and he is an average coach.

So your belief was we had to go 12-0 with this schedule--yupp
Time will tell--your bias is the real problem here
With a 24 team playoff that includes the top 23 ranked teams the SEC & Big Ten might have 16 teams--we'll likely be in a decent amount even if were not elite.

 

[Chumboshifko1]

Easiest schedule ever and you already know campbell is not making the playoffs

Stick your middler in there. You're a fool if you think BGJ was taking Penn State anywhere, except down the toilet. Why was he fired, clown?

 

[rigi19041]

So your belief was we had to go 12-0 with this schedule--yupp
Time will tell--your bias is the real problem here
With a 24 team playoff that includes the top 23 ranked teams the SEC & Big Ten might have 16 teams--we'll likely be in a decent amount even if were not elite.

Dont be stupid. Only TWO 12-0 teams in the playoffs last year. 10 teams either 11-1 or 10-2. 10-2 will usually get a team in.



How man upset losses did you have Campbell losing this year? How many teams on the schedule with more talent?

 

[KingLando]

Dont be stupid. Only TWO 12-0 teams in the playoffs last year. 10 teams either 11-1 or 10-2. 10-2 will usually get a team in.



How man upset losses did you have Campbell losing this year? How many teams on the schedule with more talent?

But you said the teams ahead of us would lose to each other--if we also lose games that doesn't push us ahead of them
Upsets? Most of our games are toss ups this year

 

[rigi19041]

But you said the teams ahead of us would lose to each other--if we also lose games that doesn't push us ahead of them
Upsets? Most of our games are toss ups this year

I already covered that. Top 10 teams are playing each other and someone is getting g knocked out because of their schedule. YOU already conceded psu has an EASY schedule.

All psu had to do was beat the teams they should beat like Wisconsin.

 

[KingLando]

I already covered that. Top 10 teams are playing each other and someone is getting g knocked out because of their schedule. YOU already conceded psu has an EASY schedule.

All psu had to do was beat the teams they should beat like Wisconsin.

Which again is saying they had to win out. Losing to good teams isn't going to drop you far as you know. Beating "teams you should beat" isn't going to cause you to jump. They were never going 12-0 and 11-1. With any coach. Best case was always 10-2.

 

[Chumboshifko1]

One lost game, and the trolls go wild.

 

[Bvillebaron]

And you base this on a single loss by 4 points in a Big 10 game in which PSU never was behind until 1:12 left in the game. This is just unbelievable. You do realize that this PSU team, whether it was coached by the previous coach or Chesney or anybody else, never was going to be a NC contender in 2026, as it wasn't in 2025?

Do you also realize that Paterno, even in the great 70s and 80s, actually lost some games, including home games, like in 1977 against Kentucky that kept PSU from playing for the NC, or Bama in 1981 that also may have kept PSU from playing for the NC, or to mediocre Pitt teams in 1984 and 1988, and those PSU teams were much better than this current PSU team?

Let me break some news to you. Even if the previous coach had been retained, he was going to lose several games this season, just like Campbell is going to do. If the 2024 OSU team, which won the NC, could lose at home to a 8-5 Michigan team, this PSU team is capable to losing to probably any Big 10 team.

Teams are permitted to get better. Looking at Wisconsin's prior year's results and expecting similar performance, in this age of player movement, is not persuasive.

Wisconsin is not a top 20 team and the loss was unexpected and disheartening. But I would be careful ranking it up there with other huge upsets.
It's early in the season to assess where we are. It is certainly evident PSU lacks high end talent. I am interested in seeing the next 4-5 games to form any judgment about whether this coaching staff is capable of winning games they are not expected to win. That would be a sign of progress.

Are you serious? Penn State got 3 turnovers; the offense scored one TD on an 11 yard drive (courtesy of one of those turnovers); the Most Experienced QB in college football completed 41% of his passes and looked like a true freshman rather than a 5th year senior and the team blew a 17 point lead in a homecoming game. I have seen some bad losses in my 65 years of being a fan (such as a blow out in a Kick Off Classic and sitting in 95 degree heat in the north end zone before there was a second deck to provide shade and losing a season opener to Cincinnati 14-3 before Cincinnati was a decent team) but the loss to Wisky on Saturday was top ten. You are correct that this season and Campbell’s career won’t be judged solely by last Saturday’s loss but this was a BAD one by any and all measures.

 

[Bvillebaron]

Yes, it's unfathomable that some still don't understand that, and any coach that PSU would've hired probably would've brought a large number of his players with him.

Oh we understand that fully but that was a self-inflicted problem caused by Pat “Amateur Hour” Kraft (1) firing Franklin mid-season with no succession plan; (2) doing little or nothing publicly or privately to ensure the verbals after the firing that a good coach would be hired; and (3) not hiring Campbell until after the signing date which not only kissed away virtually an entire recruiting class but hamstrung Campbell in getting portal players. Kraft has done far more harm to the football program than Franklin and it ain’t even close.

 

[Bvillebaron]

Comical. The date you list is the "early signing period" for HS recuits (i.e., first day of signing period) but the Deadline for HS Recruit Signing (i.e., National Signing Day) is still Feb 3. There were lots of unsigned players still available but PSU's class being blown up has way more to do with the timing of Krafty The Clown's firing, than anything else. Secondly, Campbell did not have to waste & burn his NIL budget on players at QB, TE, RB.... etc.... in many instances, his large NIL payments to these ISU X-Fers defacto chased off holdover players at those positions. NIL is not an annual "use it or lose it" proposition. Campbell could have chosen to keep his financial powder dry for this year (including HS Recruits) and gone with a lower budget roster this year with more holdovers. Last Saturday would have been more acceptable had that been the case. But that was not the case, virtually 100% of Campbell's largest $$$ X-Fer Free Agents have been busts - as in super nova busts. Sorry, but you can't have spent the kind of $$$ Campbell has on Free Agents with zero accountability for your decisions when you're pushing holdovers out with many of the decisions and it wasn't necessary to spend that kind of $$$ as we likely weren't making the playoffs this year anyway. The amount of $$$ he has spent on Free Agents is egregious relative to what they have shown - which is nothing almost across the board.

Virtually all players sign on the early signing date not February 3rd.

 

[Bvillebaron]

We will always have the memory of what a greedy, self centered phart BGJ is.

Speak for yourself. Nice to see your asinine ad hominem attacks continue in your usual juvenile fashion.

 

[Bvillebaron]

Which guys from last years roster should they have kept that would make a difference? Grunk and Gilliam for sure. Chaz Coleman was posing for photos next to Lane’s Bentley. We weren’t keeping him and we weren’t outbidding TN and Indiana for Campbell, Gilliam, Lane and AJ Harris.

Reynolds. All of the 3 starters on defense at Tennessee for starters.

 

[Bvillebaron]

Can we please stop pretending it as a Grunk or Becht decision?
Grunk wasn't staying--this had nothing to do with familiarity. This has to do with having to put a roster together without time to do so
This "Iowa State roster" stuff is tired.

How about YOU stop with the nonsense. Grunk said publicly he is a loyal person and Campbell had every opportunity to prioritize him over his boy Becht but didn’t. It clearly was a Becht or Grunk decision and Grunk only left AFTER Becht signed because he wisely knew he had 2 chances to start at Penn State regardless of how he looked in practice: fat and none. Campbell signing Becht had EVERYTHING to do with familiarity. Blame Amateur Hour Kraft for Campbell’s lack of time to put a roster together.

 

[Bvillebaron]

And you base this on a single loss by 4 points in a Big 10 game in which PSU never was behind until 1:12 left in the game. This is just unbelievable. You do realize that this PSU team, whether it was coached by the previous coach or Chesney or anybody else, never was going to be a NC contender in 2026, as it wasn't in 2025?

Do you also realize that Paterno, even in the great 70s and 80s, actually lost some games, including home games, like in 1977 against Kentucky that kept PSU from playing for the NC, or Bama in 1981 that also may have kept PSU from playing for the NC, or to mediocre Pitt teams in 1984 and 1988, and those PSU teams were much better than this current PSU team?

Let me break some news to you. Even if the previous coach had been retained, he was going to lose several games this season, just like Campbell is going to do. If the 2024 OSU team, which won the NC, could lose at home to a 8-5 Michigan team, this PSU team is capable to losing to probably any Big 10 team.

Did you watch the game? Losses happen but Penn State got 3 turnovers, had one TD drive of a whopping 11 yards (courtesy of one of those turnovers), the most experienced QB in college completed 41% of his passes and looked like a true freshman making his first start, and blew a 17 point lead on homecoming.

List all the big games BGJ won . He wasn't fired for no reason. He won what he should have. Otherwise, he was just an average phart looking for more and more money.

Good riddance.

Big Ten Championship in 2016 which was his first season with a full complement of scholarship players. Two playoff wins for starters. How about if YOU list ANY big game Campbell has won coaching a decade in an inferior conference. Better yet I will help you out: NONE as in zero championships and zero playoff appearances.

 

[Bvillebaron]

This whole Franklin didn't lose to Wisconsin is the worst argument made. He lost to much worse teams including UCLA last year.

Sure did but as I mentioned in another post tell us what big game Campbell has ever won coaching a decade in an inferior conference. I’ll wait.

 

[Bvillebaron]

I dont think we have a "big game" this year. .
Most coaches at a program like Iowa State have lost those kinds of games. What is your point?
You don't need to like MC but making Franklin into something he wasn't is insane.

And anointing Campbell as a clearly superior coach before he has ever won a damn thing is asinine.