The Obligatory PSU Podcast

A game that began with the promise and excitement of a top 5 matchup for your Penn State Nittany Lions rapidly devolved into a frustrating and dispiriting war of attrition that ended, as nearly all such games at Kinnick Stadium do, in an agonizingly close loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes. As one key Lion after another limped to the sidelines, the only thing more miserable than the mounting injury toll wa...

Wrapping a week's worth of Penn State football news into one whirlwind podcast, our full cast of characters share one long, lingering glance back at the Stripe Out before closing the book on the Nittany Lions' non-revenge-game "Revenge Game" shutout of the Indiana Hoosiers. Brandon Noble, who once upon a time played for college-legend-turned-NFL-punchline Steve Spurrier, shares some perspective on...

In the midst of an exciting season that has seen the Penn State Nittany Lions rise to fourth in the nation after five weeks and on the eve of their biggest yet against Iowa, Jim and Chris take a moment to stop and smell the roses - specifically, to appreciate quarterback Sean Clifford and receiver Jahan Dotson, who connected for two scores against Indiana and, in so doing, surpassed Todd Blackledg...

No Penn State fan needs to be reminded about what transpired the last time the Nittany Lions faced Indiana's football team. The debacle of sloppy and undisciplined play, uninspired playcalling, and unearned bravado, capped off with a highly-controversial replay review, began State's disastrous fake season with a whimper. Now, undefeated Penn State prepares to host the Hoosiers under the lights wit...

Maybe it's time to go back to "Legends" and "Leaders." After years of the scales tipping in favor of the Big Ten's East division, home to college football powerhouses Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan, the disparity between the two halves the conference seems even more pronounced in 2021. Chris and Jim look at the might East versus the lowly West while pondering whether the sketchy post-Penn St...

No matter how rosy and promising the big picture may appear, no matter how satisfying and cathartic the experience has been, no matter how well your expectations have been met (and probably exceeded) thus far, four games into a 4-0 season for Penn State that has seen the Nittany Lions climb the rankings all the way to number four in the nation, there is still one nagging inconsistency that has yet...

With nearly all of Penn State's divisional opponents in the Big Ten East showing substantial improvement early in the 2021 season and a number of difficult road contests still awaiting the Nittany Lions, there look to be precious few breathers on the upcoming schedule. That makes this weekend's visit from the FCS Villanova Wildcats an important opportunity to sit starters early and get playing tim...

We have been hearing from James Franklin and many others about the immense talent Penn State has at tight end this season and waiting to see how new offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich would put it to use. The wait is over, and the timing couldn't have been better, with a ranked Auburn team in town for a White Out. Jim and Chris discuss a breakout night for all three of the team's top tight ends an...

There are but a precious few places where the forces of the college football universe can all align to create a special and resonant moment that touches the lives of thousands of people in hundreds of ways, uniting people of all different backgrounds - young and old, near and far away - in a shared appreciation of a unique American ritual. Luckily for all of us, Happy Valley is such a place, and f...

A big weekend in Happy Valley looms. In under two decades, the Beaver Stadium White Out has cemented its status among the most distinctive traditions of the great American ritual that is college football. After the coronavirus pandemic denied Penn Staters the opportunity to take part in 2020, the White Out returns for a huge non-conference battle - a rare Northern road trip for an SEC school as #2...

When you run the company, you can't get fired. When you're publishing your own podcast, you can't get canceled. And so, the Obligatory Keystone Crossover, an experiment in collaboration (in our case) and tolerance (in theirs) between Obligatory and the Keystone Sports Network is back for a second installment. In this episode, Chris handles the hosting duties and has some sage career advice to drow...

After 651 days of barren tailgate fields, empty bleachers, and often-uninspiring football played in eerie silence, Happy Valley's home game drought is over. The crowds and energy that are the lifeblood of town and campus in Autumn came flooding back into State College last weekend, welcoming home a team led, in the best tradition of the program, by their defense. After two outings, it looks like a...

Happy Valley is ready for a family reunion. After an impossibly long layover nobody could have foreseen when the 2019 Nittany Lions closed out their home schedule with a win over Rutgers on Senior Day, the Greatest Show in College Football returns to Beaver Stadium this Saturday (and the next three to follow). The spirit of the Valley will be felt again in the Downtown on Friday afternoon. The tai...

Introducing the Obligatory Keystone Crossover, an "alliance" (if you will) between two teams of content creators who share a mutual love for Penn State and the sound of their own voices. As part of this new collaboration, our personalities will connect each week for some crossover conversation, sharing different perspectives on the Nittany Lions' season as it unfurls. We'll take a little bit of th...

The wait, long and miserable though it may have been - through global turmoil and an on-again, off-again season that maybe would have been better left staying "off-again" - was worth it. With a gutsy road performance against a higher-ranked opponent that recalled the glory days of Penn State football, led by a defense that could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the many legends who wore the Blue an...

The long wait - in many respects, far longer than is usual for this time of year - is finally almost over. Penn State travels to Madison, Wisconsin this weekend to take on a Badgers team facing many of the same questions haunting James Franklin's squad coming off the Big Ten's bizarre and frustrating fake season in 2020. In many ways, a road trip to face a ranked opponent in a hostile environment...

Per Obligatory tradition, one of our most popular features returns: the Penn State football preview in which Chris enlists the assistance of fellow LION 90.7fm alumni to analyze the Nittany Lions roster in two installments, in this case the defense. As with our offensive preview, regular contributor Mike Levine returns alongside Villanova Athletics and Big East Network broadcaster Nick Mantegna, r...

Per Obligatory tradition, one of our most popular features returns: the Penn State football preview in which Chris enlists the assistance of fellow LION 90.7fm alumni to analyze the Nittany Lions roster in two installments, beginning with the offense. This year, former FIU and Miami Hurricanes broadcaster Mike Levine returns, per usual, and he is joined by Villanova Athletics and Big East Network...

We wrap up our 2021 Summer semester with this extended conversation with returning guest Tom Gathman, better known to outdoor and adventure enthusiasts across the globe as The Real Hiking Viking. A Marines Corps combat veteran, Tom grew up around Penn State football and Joe Paterno - really - his dad produced Joe's famous Holsum Milano bread advertising campaign , which he discussed during o ur sh...

On July 1, 2021, the epoch of college football that began in 1869 with Rutgers and Princeton playing a bizarre combination of soccer and rugby came to a close, and a whole new era began. That might be overstating things a bit, but not much! If nothing else, the advent of name, image, and likeness (NIL) monetization for college athletes marks an end to the NCAA's increasingly-controversial notion o...

Once upon a time, Joe Paterno's Penn State Nittany Lions were the new kid on the college football block, struggling to earn respect among the established titans of the sport while battling entrenched stereotypes about the inferiority of "Eastern football." It felt like a rigged game in which even going undefeated wasn't nearly enough. Today's Group of Five conference contenders - Boise State, UCF,...

When is losing 9-0 more embarrassing than losing 6-4? When you're the governing body of one of the nation's most venerable and popular sports leagues and you're handed a unanimous legal shellacking by a politically-divided Supreme Court in the most charged atmosphere of partisan polarization in a century. Many Americans have wondered what force could possible compel us to come together in unity, a...

Few teams have been more consistently cheated of the chance to prove their worthiness as title contenders on the field than the Penn State Nittany Lions. Joe Paterno famously coached four teams that went undefeated and uncrowned, and as he was for so many of college football's eventual innovations, Joe was an outspoken advocate for a playoff system to determine a champion. After years of hearing i...

With the announcement that Penn State's highly-anticipated non-conference matchup with Auburn will kick off under the lights at Beaver Stadium, anticipation is high that the marquee matchup will also see the triumphant return of the Greatest Show in College Football: The Beaver Stadium White Out. While some fans consider this a welcome opportunity to shift the annual (except during global pandemic...

The guys interview Penn State Football Letterman Lydell Sargeant, a Pittsburgh native who committed to PSU as part of Joe Paterno's legendary 2005 recruiting class, the only class in school history with two Big Ten titles over their time in Happy Valley. After switching from receiver to defensive back following his freshman season, Lydell saw increasing playing time in State's defensive backfield...