With the Old Testament portion of Penn State’s football schedule complete (all the lambs have been slaughtered), competition picks up, a little, beginning Saturday against Wisconsin.
According to coach Matt Campbell, it’s the start of the second quarter of the season. He separates the season into four parts — with preseason camp and the first three games the first quarter for this Penn State team — thereby allowing a timeline to make corrections and note improvement.
Campbell preaches toughness, discipline and togetherness. But there’s more to him than that and, as we move forward, here are six things — not a full-fledged group of commandments or proverbs, just some practices and principles — we can glean from the Book of Matt.
• Know and respect. Specifically, know your history and respect your elders. Campbell arrived on campus with an appreciation of Penn State football history and respect for the program’s foundation. His efforts to connect with lettermen felt genuine and meaningful during the summer, and last week’s reunion of the 1986 national championship team offered another opportunity to frame the program’s past success in a way that connected with his current goals.
• Be early. Campbell brought morning practices with him, something he supports for a variety of reasons — including the opportunity for players to get more sleep on weeks when they have evening or night games. The team continues to practice in the morning Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and then on Friday and Saturday they get more time to rest. With Penn State playing its next three games at 5 p.m., 8 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., it could be time for the early-to-rise approach to pay off.
• Trust thy coaches. We’ve not seen a hard or harsh side to Campbell, and it may not exist. What has been revealed is a mentor who embraces thoughtful, trusting discussions and high expectations. Players earn opportunities, getting those chances as the result of hard work and interactions with a staff that wants the best for them.
• Practice makes perfect. Or, it at least merits more playing time — ask Quinton Martin Jr. about that. The coach was not coy about the connection between better practices and more playing time for the running back, either. It was clearly some public messaging, for Martin and others. As the team continues to build and embrace the need for quality depth, the importance of quality practices will remain throughout the season.
• Be charitable. Campbell and Co. brought Victory Day to Penn State, and fans and the media loved everything about it. While the event is part of the coach’s blueprint (just like the preseason team camping trip), it felt original and meaningful as opposed to performative. Sure, it was meant to be celebrated and seen, but it still felt like Campbell was doing something he believed in and nothing more. OK, it was much more for those who benefited from it but probably not for Campbell. Being a good person is a good thing.
• Focus on the game. This might be the most important part of the Book of Matt. He’s here to coach football and he cares about his family and his team. When he initially arrived at the airport before his introductory news conference, an athletic department leader told him he had to walk the fenceline and greet fans. Something like that was not on his radar. When Campbell appeared on the Pat McAfee Show and the namesake host asked him about the White Out atmosphere and the music played during the event, Campbell’s blank expression clearly showed he knew nothing about that minutia (in his world), either. Nor did he care. He’s a football coach, preparing and playing the game are what matter most to him.
There’s much more, for sure. Many more chapters to be written and lessons to be learned.
It’s a good book to this point, though, and it’ll be interesting to see what happens next.
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