Penn State football coach Matt Campbell returned from the bye week in a good mood Tuesday, as the Nittany Lions prepare to host Purdue on Saturday at Beaver Stadium. While tickets for the Penn State-Purdue game are cheap and plentiful , Campbell said that Penn State made progress post-bye in attempted to reset after four straight losses.
Our takeaways from Tuesday's media availability.
Penn State Nittany Lions wide receiver Koby Howard (6) scores a touchdown during the second quarter against the Buffalo Bulls at Beaver Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Expect to see receiver Koby Howard listed as "questionable" on Penn State's first weekly availability report Wednesday. That was a hedge, though, as Campbell wouldn't give too much away about the receiver's status. Penn State hosts Purdue for a 4:15 p.m. ET kickoff Saturday.
Howard, who returned to practice Tuesday, has not played in a Big Ten game this season. He also has yet to play in a conference game with receiver Chase Sowell, who has emerged as the team's playmaker following Howard's injury. Campbell has said that Howard is ahead of schedule in his rehab but also sounded like a coach who's unwilling to play the receiver before he's ready.
"I do think getting Koby back will be a huge asset to our football team, and I think that's why we've got to make sure he's healthy and truly ready to play," Campbell said. "[It's] making sure that we get the Koby that you saw in the first three games of the season, not a shell of Koby, and I think that part's really important."
Sowell also is looking forward to getting Howard back into the lineup, particularly for his in-game "swagger."
"He's confident in going out there and doing what he does because he knows how much he's put into it," Sowell said. "I don't know if it's positive, but it kind of is to me, kind of like an "F-U" mentality to the defense," Sowell said. "Kind kind of, 'I want the ball, I want to make the play,' and you need that from some guys."
Campbell also said that receiver Brett Eskildsen is "100 percent" after getting dinged at Michigan. The first pregame availability report will be released at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday.
Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Matt Campbell coaches in the second half against the Michigan Wolverines at Michigan Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Campbell called the bye-week practices positive because Penn State made corrections while maintaining its intent. He sounded like a coach who read his team's body language as upbeat through the week.
Players called the bye-week practices productive, particularly for some of the younger players to carve larger roles after four straight losses. For Campbell, those practices followed the path he set for the team before the season. And he gained confidence from what he saw during the bye week.
"To me, it's the spirit of that group and how they have demanded to fight back," Campbell said. "And I saw it after the USC game. I saw it after we came back from Northwestern, and I saw it even when we were down 14-3 at Michigan.
"In some of those moments for me, you're like, 'This group kept fighting and demanded a pathway forward.' And I was interested to see how our team would practice last week and what it would look like. There are areas that we as coaches have to fix, and there are areas that you as players have to continue to demand a fix. And to watch that group really come to work and demand a pathway forward, that part is certainly energizing, and you're really excited."
Penn State Nittany Lions defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn talks to reporters during football media day in Holuba Hall. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
Penn State has allowed fourth-quarter, game-winning or clinching touchdowns in three of its four Big Ten losses. Wisconsin scored 14 points in the last 4 minutes of the fourth, and USC and Michigan sealed their wins with touchdowns in the final quarter.
For Penn State defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn, that was a major bye-week conversation. He also didn't have an answer yet.
"It's something that we spent a lot of time talking about over the bye," Lynn said. "We've emphasized it with our guys. We're trying to make sure we're rotating guys and keeping guys fresh. We're trying to make sure that we're putting them in position from a schematic standpoint to where we're still putting them in position to make plays. But it's something that I don't have that exact answer. But it's something that we've definitely been trying to figure out."
Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Matt Campbell looks at the scoreboard against the USC Trojans at Beaver Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Penn State has a 93.8-percent chance to win six games and become bowl-eligible, according to the ESPN College Football Power Index . Yes, Penn State's remaining schedule includes five teams with a combined losing record, though only Maryland is winless in the Big Ten like the Nittany Lions.
But Campbell won't allow himself to commit to anything regarding bowl games or win streaks (the FPI gives Penn State a 30.7-percent chance to win out).
"I think this is a flip to the third quarter of our season, and where are we?" Campbell said. "The goal that we set out first and foremost is the identity of our football program moving forward. Who do we want to be? Where do we want to go? What do we want to become? This is the vision of where we want to be.
"And again, I think even getting into a bye week, where are gaps? How far away are we in some of these areas to where we want to go and where we need to go to have that identity as we continue to move ourselves forward as a football program? So I think a lot of it has been on leadership. leadership. A lot of it has been on identity of our football program, and that's really been our focus from day one, more than a win or a loss or talking about those end goals."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/pennstate as 4 Key Takeaways From Penn State Coach Matt Campbell's Purdue Press Conference .
