Matt Campbell Admits Penn State Hasn't Met Its Standard

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Penn State couldn't get anything going on the ground, and Northwestern absolutely embarrassed them in the run game. Northwestern quite literally did everything it wanted to on both sides of the ball, and much of that is because Penn State played soft. 

It's one thing to lose games like Penn State has in the past, especially when it was taking on Ohio State and Oregon, teams with perhaps more talent. 

But in those games, Penn State wasn't being out-physicaled.

This time, it was.

Penn State has one of the highest standards in college football, but unfortunately, those standards have slipped a lot over the past couple of weeks. 

For a Penn State program that hoped that after firing James Franklin, things would go back to how they should, it's been far from the case. 

If anything, Penn State seems to be one of the worst Power Four teams in the country, a very concerning sign as Big Ten play has been as ugly as possible.

While I appreciate what head coach Matt Campbell has said in the past about holding up to that standard, at the end of the day, comments don't mean much unless the team comes out and plays the kind of football everybody knows it should be playing. Penn State has limited talent compared to years past, and that's part of Campbell's fault. 

Him not bringing in the kids needed on both sides of the ball isn't holding up to that standard, but I am glad he came out and said he's frustrated his team isn't meeting it.

It finally felt like he made comments about things needing to change, even though that was evident throughout the first month or so of the season.

"I think the frustrating thing for me is the standard of what this program plays football with, the attitude, the effort, the toughness," Campbell said after the Friday night loss at Northwestern, H/T USA Today. "We lacked it in every way, shape, and form tonight, and I put that, and I put a lot of that on me."

"We have the right human beings in that locker room, and we certainly have the right coaches in that locker room," Campbell went on to say later in his postgame press conference. "The challenge will be getting ourselves aligned back to who we want to be, where we need to be, and fundamentally the team we need to be to be able to win."

I haven't been very happy with what Campbell has done on both sides of the ball so far this season. 

At the same time, I also think it's fair to put some of that blame on others. Ultimately, Campbell isn't going to get fired right now or at the end of the season, unless Penn State loses every other game from here on out and looks uncompetitive. 

Penn State is unlikely to get rid of him even then, but who knows in this era of college football?

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