Penn State played for a spot in the national championship this time last year — 364 days ago to be exact. Now, the Nittany Lions have a new head coach with a new staff who, hour by hour, are building a new roster via the transfer portal.
That’s how quickly things can change in today’s college football. As of Wednesday night, 42 Nittany Lions have left via the portal. Matt Campbell and his staff have 24 transfers committed; 20 of them are former Iowa State players. All of those numbers are expected to grow.
Any college football fan would be overwhelmed by this much movement. Which guys are leaving? Which guys are staying? Who’s the quarterback again? It’s certainly uncharted waters for a fan base accustomed to four decades of Joe Paterno followed by nearly 12 years of James Franklin with a couple Bill O’Brien seasons bridging those eras of stability.
This is a whole new world for everyone. But Campbell and Co. are following a blueprint that isn’t entirely uncharted — it will be on full display Friday night in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
Curt Cignetti’s Indiana model has arrived in Happy Valley — and it will be fascinating to see if it works the same way for the Nittany Lions that it has for the Hoosiers.
The undefeated and No. 1-ranked Hoosiers face Oregon on Friday night in the CFP semifinal at the Peach Bowl. If they take down the Ducks for the second time this season, the Hoosiers will face the winner of Ole Miss-Miami as significant favorites.
All of this must still feel like a fever dream for Hoosiers fans. Once an underfunded afterthought at a basketball school, a program that hadn’t won a bowl game since 1991, Indiana is poised to climb college football’s tallest mountain.
But for as mind-blowing as its rise might be, the path Cignetti took was pretty straightforward.
Cignetti basically brought James Madison with him when he left Harrisonburg for Bloomington. After he was hired in November 2023 — and after dropping his now-famous, “I win. Google me,” line — Cignetti went to work and overhauled the Hoosiers roster.
Cignetti brought in 31 players via the portal to offset 39 departures. Of those 31 newcomers, 13 of them followed Cignetti from James Madison to Indiana. He didn’t take everyone, only the best from the Dukes’ 11-win 2023 squad — and they formed the foundation for a quick fix.
Cignetti took advantage of a light schedule in his inaugural season, went 11-1 and made the 12-team CFP before being bounced by Notre Dame in the first round. But the Hoosiers didn’t wilt away. They came back stronger, knocking off Ohio State en route to a Big Ten title.
Now, Indiana is on the doorstep of its first national championship — and others are hoping to copy the same formula.
Oklahoma State is trying it after dismissing Mike Gundy. The Cowboys hired North Texas coach Eric Morris, who, after an 11-win season, is bringing in star quarterback Drew Mestemaker, running back Caleb Hawkins, wideout Wyatt Young and others from the Mean Green. They’re hoping a 1-11 record in Stillwater can be flipped as quickly as it happened.
Penn State is doing the same after a season that began with national championship hopes took a nosedive.
With the way things played out, this offseason was always going to be defined by turnover. A senior-laden roster was going to be gutted by NFL Draft declarations, and Franklin’s exit to Virginia Tech meant most coaches and some players would join him in Blacksburg.
Enter reinforcements from Ames. Like Cignetti, Campbell re-hired his offensive coordinator and several position coaches. He also brought in a plethora of talent he trusts.
Of the 20 Cyclones following Campbell, 12 of them recorded more than 300 offensive or defensive snaps for an 8-4 Iowa State squad in 2025 — and many of them played a role in 2024 when the Cyclones won 11 games and were a Big 12 title win away from the CFP.
Rocco Becht threw for 9,209 yards and 64 touchdowns as a three-year starter. Carson Hansen ran for 1,704 yards and 19 scores the last two seasons. Brett Eskildsen, Chase Sowell, Benjamin Brahmer and Gabe Burkle combined for 1,774 receiving yards this fall. Linebackers Kooper Ebel and Caleb Bacon and All-Big 12 safety Marcus Neal Jr. had 222 tackles.
Becht, Hansen, Sowell, Burkle, Ebel and Bacon are among those with one year of eligibility left. So they’re short-term fixes, which is perfectly OK in this transitional period.
Penn State and athletic director Pat Kraft hired Campbell — one of the best talent developers and builders in college coaching — to stabilize the program and push it forward. With an easy nonconference schedule and a manageable Big Ten slate (no Ohio State, Oregon or Indiana), a heavy dose of Cyclones should give Penn State a high floor in Year 1.
Looking to the future, it would go against Campbell’s DNA to live and die by the portal. Don’t expect the Nittany Lions to churn through QBs like Indiana has and will continue to do.
But at least for now, Penn State has adopted the Hoosiers’ blueprint.
We’ll find out in the coming days if Indiana can finish the job — and we’ll find out in 2026 and beyond if Campbell and Penn State can replicate Cignetti’s success.
