Matt Campbell will debut his first season as Penn State’s head coach on September 5th when the Marshall Thundering Herd come to visit Beaver Stadium.
From there, the team will have 11 additional chances to go out, compete, and hopefully win a few games.
The schedule has been described as not overly difficult, which is good given the volume of players that have transferred in and out, as well as the addition of the new coaching staff and its offensive and defensive schemes.
So MMQB asks – what are your
hopes for the first season under Matt Campbell? A certain amount of wins? A certain post-season destination? Individual player or coach accolades? Or just hoping that the kids can go out and have fun with it?
I think the biggest thing for me is I’d like to see cohesion. Campbell is a coach that builds up a team that plays well together, which is why he can often overcome talent limitations. This season’s roster is one of the most diverse I can recall, so I’d like to see everyone playing on the same page. Ideally, I’d also like to see some positive body language on the sidelines, with guys supporting each other through good and bad times. If things start to go poorly, I’d like to see the team rally instead of collapse.
And ideally, all of that will translate to some wins. I won’t have a full prognostication until later in the summer, but I think this team can win 7 games somewhat comfortably. There are two more games that I think they can win (Wisconsin and Minnesota), but I want to withhold judgment for now. For the sake of my sanity, I’m just going to chalk USC, Michigan, and Washington up as losses. Better to be pleasantly surprised than disappointed in my opinion. An 8- or 9-win season would be a solid start to the Campbell era in my opinion.
But what do you think? What sorts of things do you want to see in Matt Campbell’s first season as head coach?
