I can convince myself this is an important football game for Penn State football.
I can twist and contort my brain just enough to make myself believe that at this point in the season – with Penn State football at 4-4 – this game seems to be Matt Campbell’s first, really, actually important football game.
I know. I spent last week reminding you that Penn State still hasn’t shown anything. It’s still not accomplished anything.
But I thought that then. And yes, right now, I still think that.
Penn State clobbered Purdue. It actually found a running game for the first time all season. Its defense was sharp and effective, limiting the Boilermakers to 175 yards and 10 points.
But it was just one win. It was also just one win coming off a four-game losing streak that has mostly soured this season, one in which it will not accomplish anything close to meaningful in this era of college football.
Yet that one win provides a reset in a way on this season. That’s why I think this feels like the most important Penn State football game of the season.
There’s a fine line between revisionist thoughts and careful reframing of a season that has an optimistic and bright spin on it. It is the most difficult in the mental gymnastics of why I think this is an important football game. But it’s one that I can let my brain get through.
When Penn State started this season, it was a year of optimism because of its senior-led depth, particularly at quarterback, and a particularly favorable schedule that may have only offered one real challenge in its first eight contests – with many thinking the ninth against Washington was the second of those challenges.
As the Nittany Lions stumbled through the first four games in Big Ten play, it exposed what glaring problems there were with the thought that a new coach in college football could just easily pick up the pieces of a roster duct-taped together. For some, it can work. For others, it can be a longer process.
Yes, the USC game probably has the most attention and the most hope that it would be the most important football game. But Penn State’s loss the week prior to Wisconsin had already sullied that. It was a concerning collapse after an alarming performance a week prior against Northwestern. Then in Penn State’s loss to the Trojans, it was not enough to mean something as a comeback bid fell short.
So when Penn State beat Purdue last weekend, all of that anxiety hanging around started to – but not completely – ever so slightly evaporate. It will not go away unless the winning continues. It may not go away at all – regardless of what happens through the rest of this season.
But unlike any of those other games, we now know what this team is. We can reconcile that this won’t be a successful season while acknowledging a win against Washington will be meaningful. Penn State has more to prove and potentially more to lose if it were to lose this football game
The vibes coming out of Happy Valley were positive, rightfully so, after Campbell’s team beat the bricks off of Purdue. But that will all be for naught if Penn State can’t win in Seattle.
All of those feelings of correction that Penn State made last week – especially those in the running game – will only go back to where they were before the Purdue game if Penn State isn’t ready for the task against Washington. If Penn State can’t run the ball again, then what was the last week of celebration about?
If Penn State’s defense can’t shut down the Huskies’ offense, then was there ever momentum in the first place?
This season will not be much – regardless of what happens in the Pacific Northwest on Saturday. There will not be a College Football Playoff berth and there may not even be a bowl appearance – though that looks less likely now.
But Penn State can only help itself with a win against Washington. Campbell can get a win that feels impressive in a way he hasn’t done so yet. It would be a win far from home and far from meaning much. But it wouldn’t mean nothing.
Penn State can finally start to prove that it’s headed in a positive direction because there will not be the fallacy of non-conference play – games which Penn State should win, especially when it’s paying its roster the same amount some of those teams spend in total on football. Penn State can start to show that its new head coach can handle this conference.
These are the important moments, especially as a new era kicks off for a football program, and if Penn State wins on Saturday, I think it will be an important win.
I’ve let myself believe that.
at 
Time: 3:30 p.m.
TV: FS1
Announcers: Dan Hellie, Robert Smith
Radio: Penn State Sports Network
Announcers: Steve Jones, Jack Ham, Brian Tripp
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