Does the Final Drive vs. Washington Start to Define the Campbell Era at Penn State?

With 303 first-half yards and a 28-6 lead, Penn State had a win over Washington on the road on Saturday in the bag. Until it didn’t. The Huskies came roaring back to pull within 28-25 with 7:40 left in the game. And maybe, in a lot of ways, left in Penn State’s season 2026 as well. It was that precarious. Maybe the win over Purdue was an anomaly. Maybe the four-game losing streak wasn’t really in the rearview mirror. Maybe Wisconsin was on repeat. Maybe growth just doesn’t always show up on the playing field, no matter how forward-thinking you are. Maybe. Maybe coach Matt Campbell, his team and a large contingent of Penn State fans in Husky Stadium, as well as those watching back East, had seen this movie before. Wisconsin, just 42 days earlier. Was Washington, like some mid-budget NIL horror movie, a grislier and even more heart-stopping sequel? You thought so. I thought so. Maybe even Campbell thought so. He kinda admitted as much after the game — “…a football game whe