University Park— Penn State HC Matt Campbell got his first Big Ten win, and credited the mentality of his players for making it happen.
It took longer than PSU would have hoped, with the team dropping its first four Big Ten games.
But for Campbell, the team keeping its cool through the stretch led to the reward of a 31-17 win over Purdue at Beaver Stadium Oct. 31.
WHAT CAMPBELL SAID
“Yeah, to me, finishing is about what these seniors are about, right?” Campbell said in his postgame presser. “This senior class has been through a lot, no matter how you slice it. Whether they came here or they stayed here, it’s been a lot of change. The reason why we’re sitting here today in late October, ready to get to November, and you have a tough four-game losing streak, and some of those games you have every opportunity to win and you don’t, this group’s never wavered. “They’ve never flinched. They haven’t bitched, whined or complained. They’ve just gone to work and tried like heck to correct the areas and grow themselves forward. I I wouldn’t say everybody in that locker room has done it, but I’d say the vast majority has. I think you saw that tonight, and I think it’s exciting for this group because it is really the culture we’re trying to create here. You win with team. You win with not paying attention to the outside noise. You win with having the ability to stay focused on your craft, and you win with team football. Tonight, we played team football for four quarters, which was great to see. We’ll see if we can continue to go forward. I think there will be great challenges for us and great opportunities ahead of us.”
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.THE ROAD AHEAD
Penn State is now 4-4 overall and 1-4 in the Big Ten, and has an opportunity to end the season 8-4. Its last four games are at Washington (4-3, 1-3), at home against Minnesota (5-3, 3-2), at home against Rutgers (2-6, 1-4) and at Maryland (2-6, 0-5). It’s hardly a guarantee that Penn State will win all of these games, but there’s no reason to think it’s not possible.
The last third of the regular season begins Saturday at Washington. Kickoff will be at 3:30 EST on FS1.
