Greg McElroy breaks down whether Penn State is a national championship contender in 2026

For the first time in over a decade, Penn State is entering an upcoming season with a new head coach. The school fired James Franklin midway through last season and hired Matt Campbell to replace him in December.

Cambell was Iowa State‘s head coach from 2016-25. Now, with more resources at his disposal than ever before, Campbell is hungry to guide the Nittany Lions to great heights. ESPN’s Greg McElroy believes Penn State could make a stunning run deep into the postseason in 2026.

“While the national media is kind of calling it a ‘rebuild,’ I’m here to tell you that Matt Campbell didn’t come to State College to just build a foundation. He brought the whole house with him,” McElroy said. “This is, in many ways, Iowa State East.

“If you think that’s a step down, then I don’t think you realize how hard it is to just start from scratch and bring these pieces from all over the place. I mean, look at Indiana, for example. Indiana brought Curt Cignetti in, and with Curt Cignetti came 14 James Madison players.”

Although Penn State has lost 46 players to the transfer portal this offseason, it has added 38 from it. Twenty-three of the incoming transfers followed Campbell from Iowa State.

Most notably, Former Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht transferred to Penn State just under a month after the school hired Campbell. Becht will be pivotal to Campbell’s debut campaign at the helm of Penn State.

The veteran QB completed 60.5% of his pass attempts last season for 2,584 yards and 16 touchdowns while only throwing nine interceptions. Additionally, Becht notched eight TDs in the ground game.

Penn State’s conference schedule will be manageable in the 2026 season. The Nittany Lions will not face Ohio State, Oregon, or Indiana in the regular season. McElroy thinks a 10-2 record isn’t an unrealistic expectation for the team.

“They are a smart, solid football team,” McElroy said. “They’re not going to necessarily be a real sexy pick. No one’s going to put them in their preseason top five, but currently, with odds sitting in some places at around 70 to 1, if you look at the coaching, you look at the veteran quarterback, you look at the schedule, you see a team that might be designed to kind of stay in the hunt.

“They’re not going to beat themselves. They’re not going to have meltdowns and big moments. They’re going to be boringly, frustratingly, and consistently good.”