The Best Quotes, Notes and Anecdotes From Penn State's Win Over Marshall

If you weren't at Beaver Stadium on Saturday, you missed some of the grace notes of Penn State's 45-0 opening win vs. Marshall. Like the new tunnel signage. Or Matt Campbell's sprint to the locker room. Or someone's ex taking over the music setlist.

So here's a look at the top quotes, notes anecdotes from the first win of the Matt Campbell era. For more on the game, check out our report card and the afternoon's highs and lows.

The best quotes from the Penn State-Marshall game

Matt Campbell opens up his press conference with a thank you to the fans.

“The environment was second to none.” pic.twitter.com/5H5KY8amHF
— Chase Fisher (@chase_fisher4) September 5, 2026

Matt Campbell defers on the personal celebration: "I know everybody’s looking for that magic answer, and I hate to tell you this. That was awesome early, but now you’re responsible for the game. And for me, this team, it's earning the right to at least get to a game. I was so anxious [about] watching who this football team could be and where we could respond. And obviously we
know just a little bit, but we got great videotape evidence now in a chaotic game environment."

Campbell assesses Koby Howard's 161-yard receiving performance: "You got to see today when I get to see at 5:15 in the morning in the facility catching the JUGS [machine], and that’s been that way since spring ball. That’s been that way almost every day this summer.

"I think Koby’s work ethic allows him to have real confidence, and I think the biggest thing for Koby is just the ability to continue to understand [that] today is also when the ball found him. And there may be days when the ball doesn’t find you, and how you block and how you do all the things really matters?. I think the sky is the limit for Koby Howard, and I’m really proud of him because you were ready for this moment."

Koby Howard responds: "I went in there knowing that I had stuff to prove. I was showing the coaches that I could be trusted, and I really don’t want to come off the field honestly. So it was just showing the coaches that I could do that and showing them that they could throw me the ball in the game."

Penn State quarterback Rocco Becht discusses giving a game ball to Campbell: "He deserves it. The amount of pressure that he's been under, the amount of stuff that he's been able to get through to get to this point where we are now, it's truly unbelievable."

Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Rocco Becht walks off the field following a win over the Marshall Thundering Herd. — Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Rocco Becht walks off the field following a win over the Marshall Thundering Herd at Beaver Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Marshall head coach Tony Gibson details the loss: "Yeah, we gave them too much time on the first long touchdown. Had a blitz call, blitz didn’t get there, we got stuck on blocks. You know, they just dictated the tempo of this football game from snap one, and we got punched in the mouth and never recovered."

The best notes and numbers from Penn State-Marshall

Penn State coach Matt Campbell’s first postgame alma mater, with AD Pat Kraft. pic.twitter.com/GftKSsvedF
— Mark Wogenrich (@MarkWogenrich) September 5, 2026

Campbell became the first Penn State head coach in 101 years to win his first game by shutout. The last was Dick Harlow, whose team beat Westminster 26-0 in 1915. Of course, Campbell is only the eighth Penn State head coach since Harlow.

Penn State recorded its first season-opening shutout since beating Akron 52-0 in 2017. That might have been James Franklin's best team, which went 11-2 and lost to Ohio State and Michigan State by a combined four points.

In his 40th career start, Becht completed four touchdown passes for the first time. His quarterback rating of 272 was the second-highest of his career.

Howard (6 catches, 161 yards) became the first Penn State receiver to top 150 yards in a game since Parker Washington (179 vs. Ohio State) in 2022.

Penn State completed multiple passes of 40+ yards for the first time since a 2024 win over Kent State.

Penn State's receivers generated 196 of the team's 324 passing yards after the catch. Howard totaled 76 YAC.

Koby Howard gets @PennStateFball on the board for the first time this season 👏

Watch on FS1 pic.twitter.com/1OC6waJvNE
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) September 5, 2026

Less than six months after heart surgery, redshirt freshman quarterback Alex Manske ccompleted six of eight passes in the most substantial playing time of his career.

Penn State is now the only FBS team with shutouts in six consecutive seasons.

Penn State's defense stopped Marshall on 10 of 11 third downs. Marshall's average third-down distance was 7.2 yards.

Defensive end Caleb Bacon, who began his career as a walk-on linebacker at Iowa State, tied his career-high with 3 tackles for loss. Bacon made 9 TFLs at Iowa State last season.

Linebacker Tony Rojas tied his career-high with 2 TFLs. Rojas had 4.5 tackles for loss in four games before sustaining a season-ending injury.

Penn State played more than 70 players on Saturday, including eight true freshmen. Cornerback Josiah Zayas became the first true freshman to start for Penn State's defense since defensive back John Reid in 2015. Zayas finished with two tackles and a quarterback hurry. Freshman Bryson Williams made the first interception of Penn State's season.

Scenes from Beaver Stadium

Penn State playing Enter Sandman during today’s game against Marshall: pic.twitter.com/m4yrSOk4ga
— Will Horstman (@WillHorstman_) September 5, 2026

Penn State wanted everyone to know it has moved on from Franklin, but there was a subtle moment of trolling the ex. During a first-half timeout, Penn State's gameday crew played bits of Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Getting Back Together" and "Enter Sandman" (famously Virginia Tech's walkup song) in succession.

Campbell deflected any opportunity to be the center of attention. He was not announced during the pregame starters' introductions and sprinted off the field immediately following the alma mater. "I'm good on that," Campbell said. "The scoreboard is for the players."

Did you notice the new signage in the Beaver Stadium tunnel through which Penn State enters the field? It reads "Success With Honor," which the late Joe Paterno made the mission statement of his program for more than 40 years.

"Succces With Honor" replaced "1-0," which Franklin made a centerpiece of his coaching philosophy. Penn State ultimately sold that banner through its Lion Surplus resale site.

A "Success With Honor" sign hangs in the tunnel at Penn State's Beaver Stadium. | Mark Wogenrich | Penn State on SI

Sign up to our free Penn State Nittany Lions newsletter, follow us on social media and add Penn State on SI as a Preferred Source on Google.

Add us as a preferred source on Google