College Football Analyst Josh Pate Casts Serious Doubt on the Future of the Penn State Program

College football analyst Josh Pate casts some serious doubt on the Penn State program after their nightmare start under Matt Campbell. 

The Nittany Lions have lost three straight contests in equally embarrassing fashion each time. They blew a huge lead over Wisconsin, they got crushed by the Northwestern Wildcats, and then they got upended by the USC Trojans in the biggest home environment of the season.

It has been a disheartening couple of weeks inside the Penn State program, and unfortunately, it might be a while until it gets fixed, if it ever does. 

Josh Pate has been a Matt Campbell supporter for a long time and was the biggest fan of this hire from the moment that it happened. There is reason to believe that there is still reason for optimism within his program, but that is going to start running out quickly.

Pate argued on his show this week that the problems in Happy Valley have little to do with coaching and a lot to do with the talent that is on the roster and the investment that the school is willing to make in that roster.

Let's just tell the truth about it: Penn State is not spending enough to compete with Ohio State, Oregon, and USC. 

Penn State currently has the 18th most expensive roster, which on the surface is okay. However, the dollar value that they have committed to their roster is an alleged $26.8 million. That is down around Auburn, Houston, Missouri, Vanderbilt, and Clemson. 

They are spending $10 million less than Ohio State, $13 million less than Oregon, and nearly $20 million less than Texas. The truth is, if they want to compete at the top of the sport, unfortunately, they are going to have to compete with their checkbooks as well as on the field.

Now, the question becomes: Is Penn State willing to commit the dollars necessary to be able to do that? That is the ultimate question that the people at State College are going to have to answer.

Until then, the goal for the Nittany Lions is going to be not competing at the top of the conference, but competing anywhere in the conference. They are going through a really, really tough stretch in football that they have to snap out of.

It isn't going to be easy because there is no team that you feel the Nittany Lions are better than.

There is a clear talent differential between the teams in the Big Ten and where the NIttany Lions are at. The tough part is that none of that can be solved overnight.