What's the Matter With Penn State Football?

At Big Ten Media Days in July, CBS college football analyst Charles Davis said Penn State hired Matt Campbell right out of "central casting." Two months later, with Penn State winless in the Big Ten, Davis still believes the fit and match are right.

"[Penn State] getting Matt Campbell is a big deal," Davis said in an interview Tuesday. "I am not about to be Mr. Revisionist History. I still feel that way. I still feel like it's a big-time hire for Penn State, despite the early struggles. I could get all esoteric and say, coach [Joe] Paterno was 3-3 right out of the gate. But that was 1966. No one cares. All anyone cares about is this."

Davis will call Saturday's Penn State-Michigan game for CBS Sports in a situation he certainly didn't anticipate. The teams are a combined 0-5 in Big Ten play and meet for the first time without a conference win between them. Both have coaches (Campbell at Penn State, Kyle Whittingham at Michigan) navigating rough terrain in a new conference.

So this week we followed up with Davis to discuss Campbell's first season, Penn State's issues and his expectations for the game.

"One of the great mysteries of the world," Davis said. "How did they put the Pyramids together What is going on with Penn State? I totally get it."

So what is going on with Penn State?

Penn State Nittany Lions running back Carson Hansen (21) runs with the ball vs. the USC Trojans at Beaver Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Charles Davis: I thought that they had a great start. Defensively they looked dominant, but I thought there was a little warning signal about how the run game was going. Turned out, the warning signal was full blown. They have not been able to run the football. To me, their biggest issues have been offensive line and defensive front. They can't run the ball, and people are running it on them.

And the crazy part about that is, USC looked at all the run stats, watched the tape and said our strength is still throwing the football. And I know Penn State's numbers [on pass defense] look really good, but we still believe we're better doing that. And boy, were they right. It all worked out really, really well for them. So a lot of this is just simply numbers say one thing, play actually says another. And Penn State's got to get some things figured out about what they're doing.

What do you see talent-wise from Penn State?

Penn State Nittany Lions wide receiver Chase Sowell (0) runs with the ball against the Wisconsin Badgers at Beaver Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Charles Davis: It's a team that's going to get better talent in there, and I'm sure coach Campbell and his people have a real plan. I'm not going to sit here and say that, because they were hired when they were hired, they didn't get talent last year. I think that would be disingenuous. They did get some talent last year.

But knitted together, that talent has struggled. Northwestern was essentially running the Wing-T, and Penn State got a full dose of it. So not only are you getting gashed up front, now it's harder on people making tackles. So you get more missed tackles, which means more yardage. That's part of where the issue is for them.

I think they felt good about pass defense, and then USC said, 'Well, we think our pass offense is better than your pass defense, and we're going to do it anyway.' And they did. So now you're into a confidence thing: Which way do we go? They've got to really work on making sure these kids keep confidence. But I think [after the season], there's going to be a valiant effort in all those places to try and upgrade the talent across the board.

What is Penn State's offensive identity, and what should it be?

"We're a run game without an identity," Penn State OC Taylor Mouser said, "and that's the reality of the situation."

Penn State's Matt Campbell followed up on his team's run-game identity.

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Charles Davis: I'm not sure they have one at the moment. I think they're going to have to make a decision internally on whether they believe they can get the running game right. Because if they do, they're going to have to figure out what style up front that is and how you complement that running game. Do you use receivers as extra runners in it? Do you go to more power sets? Are you trying to get to the perimeter? They've got to figure out what they think they do best and be consistent with it.

They played much better overall against USC throwing it but still didn't make much headway running it. So maybe they look up and go [about the run game], 'Guys, we don't have time this year. It's not going to happen that way. We may have to do it this way and live with it and come back and retool in the spring.' We'll find out. I think we'll start to get some answers Saturday, depending on how they want to attack Michigan, which has an excellent defense.

Did you expect Penn State and Michigan to be a combined 0-5 in the Big Ten?

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Matt Campbell looks at the scoreboard against the USC Trojans at Beaver Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Charles Davis: Didn't see it coming. To me, two big things stand out. The Wisconsin comeback, for Penn State, that jolted them and I feel like it knocked them off balance. For Michigan, I don't think it was Western Michigan. Obviously that was a crazy night. Michigan to me was much more about Iowa, not getting the first down late in the game against Iowa or really throwing for it because they just ran it three times, and then Iowa going 91 yards for a touchdown. That's why we're sitting here looking at these two teams being 0-5, in my humble estimation.

So what do you expect Saturday in the Penn State-Michigan game?

Michigan Wolverines head coach Kyle Whittingham on the field following his team's loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes. — Michigan Wolverines head coach Kyle Whittingham on the field following his team's loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes at Michigan Stadium. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Charles Davis: I don't want to use the word desperation, because desperation often seems out of control. But I think both these teams will be tuned to the highest edge in this game. Both of them are realizing, hold it a minute, Penn State-Michigan, and neither one of us is ranked? This doesn't even feel right. That's not normal.

But it's still Penn State-Michigan. I think we're going to see some really hard play on Saturday. I think every snap you're going to see people playing with a lot of effort. We might have a few echoes-of-the-whistle type plays because these two teams will be pretty amped up. Both of them are sick of losing. Both of them are sick of hearing how this has been a disappointment and a failure.

You have two coaches that I believe were hired out of central casting, and I still do, but I never would have thought we'd be in the spot that we're in right now. But I do believe we're going to look back for both of them one day and go, 'Yep, that's why they were hired. These guys know what they're doing.' One of them won't have to answer those questions come Saturday, and one of them will have to continue to answer them for a little while.

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