Penn State HC Matt Campbell Says Absolutely the Wrong Thing After Loss

Matt Campbell certainly didn't help his cause on Tuesday during his weekly press conference. Before the Nittany Lions could officially turn the page, he was asked about what went into the loss and the anatomy of it.

His answer was pretty much exactly what you do not want to hear if you are a Nittany Lions fan.

In not so many words, he said that because they were playing with a lead for so long, they just didn't want to "screw it up." He referenced the fact that they were playing such great defense and they just didn't want to turn the football over to ruin all of the momentum that they had built.

He has like one week to learn from this mindset because it is completely wrong. I have a really hard time understanding why a coach would play any college football game conservatively because it rarely works out. Saturday was a perfect example of this because the Nittany Lions took their foot all the way off the gas pedal, and the result was letting a bad Wisconsin team hang around.

Had Campbell kept his foot on the gas pedal, and they improved their lead after forcing three Badgers turnovers, they would have run away with this game.

The truth about college football is that any team is just one blown coverage, one missed play away from total disaster. Wisconsin won that football game on Saturday because their tight end broke a couple of tackles and rumbled 72 yards to the house. 

If a football game were played 100 times and that play finds the end zone fewer than five times, it would be rare. But it happened, and the head coach responded that he played the game conservatively and not to lose. It is the completely wrong approach, and that needs to be his one lesson..

The issue for Campbell right now is the simple fact that he isn't going to visit some slouch on Friday. They are going to take on a salty Northwestern team that, again, if you let them hang around, they will beat you, plain and simple.

It is probably too early to hit the panic button on Campbell, but we are not that far off yet. It is going to get quite loud for the Nittany Lions if he drops another one, especially if James Franklin stays undefeated at Virginia Tech.

Winning cures everything, and to win football games, you have to keep the pedal down, simple as that.

Here's to hoping that he learned his lesson in that ridiculous loss to the Badgers.