One of the biggest unknowns of the 2026 college football season is whether No. 18 Penn State will fare better or worse without James Franklin leading the program.
While many felt it was Franklin’s time to go, it will still be an adjustment that for the first time in over a decade, a new face at the head-coaching position will run out of the gates at Beaver Stadium when the Nittany Lions open their season against Marshall on Saturday (3:30 p.m., FS1).
So how might Matt Campbell’s success at Iowa State translate to Penn State, since comparing the Big 12 to the Big Ten is like devouring an apple and claiming it was the juiciest orange you’ve ever tasted?
A good place to start is the College Football Playoff.
In the history of the tournament, only four teams from the Big 12 have qualified, and none were named Iowa State, the program Campbell led for the last 10 years. Conversely, six Big Ten teams, including Penn State, have qualified for the CFP, with a program in the conference taking home the title the last three years, the latest when Curt Cignetti and Indiana shocked the college football world.
Let’s not forget one of those title teams was nearly the Nittany Lions, who were a mere field goal away from a trip to the championship game in 2024 before it all unraveled for Franklin last season and cost him his job.
Here’s what we know about Campbell that bodes well for Penn State.
In his 10 seasons at Iowa State, he left as the winningest coach in program history with 72 victories. He has an offensive mind, and he convinced quarterback Rocco Becht, the former Iowa State QB and son of former NFL tight end Anthony Becht, to transfer in the offseason and join him in Happy Valley.
Becht is a whole other beast. The fifth-year player from Wesley Chapel, Fla., is so invested in helping Campbell restore Penn State’s glory that he’s committed to taking just one class this upcoming semester.
That wasn’t a misprint. One class. Three credits. And it’s an online course, which has legislators questioning how Becht’s situation accurately defines the term “student-athlete.”
So the program has a new coach eager to prove he can bring the success he had in the Big 12 to the elite level of the Big Ten, a quarterback who’s dialed in to simply being all about football, and an athletics department that’s betting a bit of the farm on Campbell to the tune of an eight-year deal in Happy Valley that will see him collect nearly $80 million over the life of the contract.
The Nittany Lions also have one of the most favorable schedules. They face just three teams in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll in No. 16 Michigan (Oct. 17), No. 17 Washington (Nov. 7), and will host No. 14 Southern Cal in their annual “White Out” game on Oct. 10 (7:30 p.m., NBC).
The way the Big Ten configuration landed, Campbell will chase a spot in the College Football Playoff not needing to face Ohio State (current AP No. 1), defending champion Indiana, Oregon, or Iowa, all teams in the AP rankings. It’s the perfect schedule for a team not looking to waste time and millions on rebuilding its program.
In fact, there is no rebuild. If you listen to Nittany Lions athletic director Pat Kraft, Campbell’s upside is believed to be the perfect option to seamlessly right the wrongs that closed out Franklin’s tenure.
This was Kraft’s statement in the press release upon hiring Campbell last December:
“Coach Campbell is, without a doubt, the right leader at the right time for Penn State football. He is a stellar coach with a proven track record of success and his values, character and approach to leading student-athletes to success on and off the field align perfectly with the traditions and values of Penn State.”
Franklin built something from the ashes of what the program became following the Jerry Sandusky scandal, and honed it into a title-contending program (albeit, one that could never figure out Ohio State or Michigan).
Now, it just needs some fine tuning to be driven again. Campbell is squarely in that driver’s seat with the keys in his hands. He’s got the tools when it comes to Penn State’s pedigree, the coins courtesy of a reported 10-year, $300 million apparel deal with Adidas, and the NCAA’s transfer portal, which will continue to provide the resources, especially after the exodus of starters following last season.
Can Campbell take this new-look team and right the wrongs of Franklin’s past? It’s tough to say, especially attempting to judge anything by the first three games of the season, starting with the Thundering Herd this Saturday, followed by Temple on Sept. 12 at Lincoln Financial Field (noon, ESPN2), and Buffalo on Sept. 19 (noon, Big Ten Network).
But the notion certainly does seem worth tuning in for.
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