It has been a season of vibes.
Maybe that’s also because that’s all that’s left to play for.
But the 2026 Penn State football season has almost exclusively been about vibes.
First, they were good. Then they were bad. And right now, they’re getting better.
As Penn State gets set to take on Minnesota at 7 p.m. on Saturday night inside of Beaver Stadium, its biggest concern should be not screwing up the vibes.
Back when Matt Campbell stepped off a jet, the vibes around these parts immediately started getting better. Last season was a disappointment and then some, which in part was why Pat Kraft hired Campbell from Iowa State.
But in the long march from his hiring all the way until late August, there were only vibes. In particular, optimism around a schedule that was quite favorable compared to other years and a roster stacked with football players, including a well-tenured quarterback, spread like a wildfire through the Nittany Valley.
Added to the kindling of that fire was a restored connection – for better or worse – with Penn State’s past. Though, Campbell’s approach was never about one person but instead the teams that made Penn State football what it was. It was a crowd-pleasing moment for most – even a new era was beginning.
As Penn State rolled through the first three games, the optimism and the positive vibes were not misfounded. Things objectively felt different inside Beaver Stadium – in part because Penn State had a quarterback and a wide receiver who could stretch out defenses. That, of course, was a major missing piece in the final two years of the previous guy’s regime.
When, however, Koby Howard got hurt – something announced after Penn State’s final non-conference win of the season – and Big Ten competition showed up on the schedule, the mood around State College started to shift. Penn State couldn’t stop the run against Northwestern. Against Wisconsin, the familiar feeling of being let down lingered all the way through to another loss against USC. In Ann Arbor, two outfits attempted to play a sport similar to football for 60 minutes, and the one representing Penn State ended up on the short end of the stick. That only made things worse.
Mix in complications of increased costs, concerns about attendance – none of which are still going away by the way – and people just felt fed up.
The vibes weren’t maybe as rotten as last year’s, and then again, Penn State fans had never truly experienced something like last year. There had not been a stereotypical firing that every fan base around the country is mostly used to in anything resembling a modern era of college football around these parts. That frustration and the frustration of starting over were only compounded during that four-game losing streak. The only familiarity Penn State fans have had with that feeling – which was accentuated by two straight seasons of four-game losing streaks – was an era quite literally called “The Dark Years.”
The vibes were bad.
But when Penn State beat Purdue, things settled down. Then when Penn State fended off Washington – in Seattle – in essentially a redo of that loss to Wisconsin, the vibes only got even better.
That in part was because another wide receiver – Chase Sowell – stepped up. And Rocco Becht, college football’s most tenured quarterback, looked the part, particularly in the game’s final seven minutes and 40 seconds.
The difference between the vibes now and the vibes at the start of the season are that the vibes are tangibly better. Penn State has two Big Ten wins at this point in the season. In early August, it had only feelings. In mid-September, it only had vibes of beating teams it should be, regardless of who the head coach is.
So as the Golden Gophers roll into University Park on Saturday night for a rare, but increasingly less rare, November night game, Penn State must keep the vibes rolling. Spoiling them now only spoils the good that remains to be harvested from this season.
And when there are only vibes left to play for, no College Football Playoff berths at least not this year, it’s essential that the vibes in the State College area remain high.
vs. 
Time: 7 p.m.
TV: FS1
Announcers: Daniel Hellie, Robert Smith
Radio: Penn State Sports Network
Announcers: Steve Jones, Brian Tripp, Cailey Thalman (Get well soon, Jack!)
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