Penn State football news: Fans won’t love Matt Campbell’s ‘left it to chance’ comments

Penn State's football team suffered its inaugural loss of the season, losing 24-20 to Wisconsin in Matt Campbell's inaugural Big Ten conference game as head coach. However, beyond the disappointing outcome, Campbell's postgame remarks drew significant attention. He pointed to a pivotal play, where a missed assignment symbolized the Nittany Lions' faltering performance in the second half.

"I think we had a guy slip off the broken play and, you know, one slip and again that play, that situation, it’s kind of like the narrative of the second half, right?" Campbell stated, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer's Lexie Linderman. "I mean, we left it to chance, and we had so many opportunities to put the game away, and we just didn’t take advantage of those opportunities."

Previously, Penn State enjoyed a flawless start to the season, achieving a perfect 3-0 record with wins over Marshall, Temple, and a dominant 55-13 victory over Buffalo. However, their game against Wisconsin proved to be a challenging matchup. Early on, Penn State established a commanding 17-0 lead, but the Nittany Lions struggled to maintain their momentum as Wisconsin mounted a late comeback.

Campbell, who is in his first season as the team's head coach, took over following a decade of success at Iowa State. He replaced James Franklin, who was recently dismissed after failing to consistently secure some of the program's most significant games during his tenure. Campbell now faces an early setback against Wisconsin, a team that had never previously defeated him during his time with the Nittany Lions.