RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 4 sourcesCHICAGO − The first true steps to this difficult-to-gauge Penn State football season will be taken here this week.
New head coach Matt Campbell and a few of his remade Nittany Lions are set to unofficially open a curious 2026 season at these Big Ten Media Days, starting on Tuesday, July 28. Campbell and his transplant star quarterback Rocco Becht and captain material linebacker Tony Rojas and offensive lineman Anthony Donkoh will talk about what it's been like restructuring a Penn State team like never before in school history.
A 100-man-plus roster that's stunningly split almost evenly between new players (transfers and incoming freshmen) and returners.
A team that was expected to contend for a national title in 2025 that stunned by losing six straight games before finding itself late. One that will be gifted with not playing three College Football Playoff powers this fall in Ohio State, Oregon and national champ Indiana.
Which is all why Campbell's Lions may be the most difficult to predict in the 18-team Big Ten. Check out the annual USA TODAY Network preseason poll , voted on by its college football writers: The Lions are sixth, and out of the CFP hunt, sandwiched in between Michigan (fifth) and Washington (seventh).
They didn't have a single player earn all-conference offensive or defensive honors − though Becht, of course, has been touted consistently as college football's most experienced returning quarterback. How will he and all of those other Iowa State transfers who followed Campbell far in upgraded league competition?
The only Lions, curiously enough, who received honorable mention by USA TODAY: former Cyclone linebacker Caleb Bacon and safety Marcus Neal, Jr.
The toughest team to read? Go to the long-running Cleveland.com poll , where the Lions also come in sixth (between Michigan and Washington) − while generating the widest range of votes of any team. Their predictions ranged from fourth to 11th, illustrating the who-knows-what-to-think vibe surrounding a team with so much uncertainty.
Of course, Campbell's chore of blending the abilities of those 40 transfers (24 from Iowa State) with the 52 returners of various ages and experience will ultimately define this season.
It figures to be one of the great mysteries of the Big Ten, which looks to crown its fourth straight national champion.
"Penn State is seemingly impossible to project, especially since the Nittany Lions will be more Iowa State than PSU this season under new coach Matt Campbell," ESPN's Bill Connelly wrote in June. "They could indeed be a borderline top-15 team or they could stumble out of the top 40 — neither would surprise me much."
Frank Bodani covers Penn State football for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @YDRPennState.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Penn State football, Matt Campbell at Big Ten Media Days in Chicago
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