The Obligatory PSU Podcast

Well, it has been, as they'd say in days of yore, "a long, strange trip," but we are finally coming down to the last weeks of 2020 and its suitably bizarre fake college football season. How many games do the Nittany Lions have left after this weekend? One? Two? None? Who knows? We are reasonably sure that Penn State will have a chance to extend its winning streak to three games versus Michigan Sta...

It wasn't always pretty, and in the end, it was, after all, only Rutgers, but dammit, in a season full of misery and disappointment, the "surging" Nittany Lions combined a solid defensive outing, a second week of much-improved offensive line play, and a maddening number of QB draws to leave New Jersey with their second win of the fake 2020 season, the 900th victory in program history. The guys enj...

Penn State hits the road for a second straight week in search of a win that will resonate in the moment and for eternity - a badly-needed follow-up to a potentially program-salvaging win last last week would not only move Penn State to 2-5 on the year, but also into the exclusive club of college football programs with 900 all-time victories (PSU would be the ninth team to achieve this feat). And w...

In the name of all that is holy and good, rejoice and give thanks! Your Penn State Nittany Lions are no longer winless for this horrendous 2020 campaign, in all its miserable fakery. After digging a historically-unprecedented 0-5 hole for themselves, all this team did was go out and do something only three prior installments of Penn State football have managed: Beat Michigan at the Big House (also...

What is our possibly-brilliant nickname and gimmick for this game on Saturday? You'll just have to listen and find out. It's a special holiday-week bonus episode looking ahead to Penn State's meeting with Michigan this weekend, basically because we have to (it's called "Obligatory" for a reason). Chris, Kevin, and Mailman preview (sort of) the Nittany Lions' matchup with the Wolverines, a genuinel...

In this installment, the guys welcome in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 's Penn State reporter Nubyjas Wilborn , who first met Kevin when they both traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska for State's ill-fated meeting with the Cornhuskers. Having joined the beat only recently and lived and worked in SEC country, Nubyjas brings some fresh and valuable perspective on Penn State's program as it continues to strug...

Welcome to the new normal. We now live in a world where a Penn State football team has begun a season with five consecutive losses, a dubious historic milestone made manifest by the Nittany Lions' disorganized, disinterested, dispiriting 41-21 home loss to Iowa. In what is becoming a depressingly familiar pattern, pretty much everything that could go wrong for Penn State did, and now this team tha...

In this special mid-week Corn Belt Omnibus edition of Obligatory, the guys look back on another frustrating Saturday, as the Penn State's trip to Lincoln brought a few signs of life, but ultimately ended up like every contest thus far in 2020, dropping the Nittany Lions to 0-4 for only the second time in program history. The only other time PSU dug itself a four-loss hole to start the season (2001...

The Nittany Lions may be reeling at 0-3, but there's always a lot to celebrate here in Happy Valley. The guys take a break from the doom and gloom of football talk to welcome in Pearl Gluck and Curt Chandler, faculty in Penn State's Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, to learn about the Centre Film Festival , happening this weekend (Nov. 13-15), and the fun and challenge around adaptin...

Already teetering on the brink of collapse at 0-2, the Penn State Nittany Lions are now fully circling the drain after a tragic 35-19 home loss to the Maryland Terrapins, a raging dumpster fire for the ages that offered absolutely zero redeeming takeaways and indicted the entire football program from top to bottom. Brandon, Kevin, Chris, and Mailman assemble immediately following the merciful end...

Ben Jones , Penn State beat reporter for StateCollege.com , joins the guys to talk about the experience of covering Nittany Lions football in a global pandemic, the state of the Penn State program in its pursuit of Ohio State, and various other Nittany news from the "resignation" of Pat Chambers to the Maryland game that will make or break the Lions' fake 2020 season. Read Ben Jones' Penn State fo...

In this episode, the guys break down a clash of legendary titans in Happy Valley. But after discussing the Fantasy Flavor League 's concluding matchup of Bittersweet Mint versus Death by Chocolate, they also get into Penn State and Ohio State. What can we take away from the Nittany Lions' disappointing 38-25 loss that dropped the team to 0-2? Brandon, Chris, Kevin, and Mailman are joined by Donnie...

If Penn State hosts a night game and no fans are there to see it, is it still a White Out? Like everything else on the carnival ride from Hell called 2020, what should be one of the biggest holidays on the annual Penn State calendar - a White Out weekend with College GameDay and Ohio State in town (and on Halloween no less!) - arrives with an unfamiliar emptiness (right down to the stadium). After...

Well, we asked for Big Ten football in 2020, and we got it. A classic case of "Be careful what you wish for." What can you say about a program with playoff aspirations in self-styled pursuit of "elite" status that goes on the road and loses to Indiana... in football? Kevin leads the way; Chris and Mailman follow, and they try to figure it out. Commentary on the game's many, many frustrating mistak...

Pat Chambers tosses the Penn State news cycle into appropriate-for-2020 chaos by resigning only days before the long-delayed start of the football season. Undaunted, the guys touch on the breaking news before moving on to Nittany Lions football. Mike, Brandon, Chris, and Kevin give their thoughts on the loss of Journey Brown, notes from the season's first depth chart, and what to expect from a dec...

Friend of the show Mike Levine returns, joining Chris to break down the Penn State Nittany Lions defense by position (reuniting the  LION 90.7fm 's 2000-01 football broadcast team). Despite the departure of Micah Parsons, who was set to be one of the top players in college football, the cupboard is hardly bare for defensive coordinator Brent Pry. Mike and Chris take a closer look at a solid and st...

Chris enlists the assistance of friend and fellow LION 90.7fm alum Mike Levine to analyze the 2020 Penn State roster in two installments, beginning with the offense. New coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca brings a track record of success to an offense stacked with veteran talent at nearly every position (with the notable exception of wide receiver). Chris and Mike break down each position group, talk abou...

Penn State Athletics has put out the call for fan-generated videos to use inside Beaver Stadium and on social media. Chris is ready to start filming; Mike the Mailman is skeptical, and Kevin is (unsurprisingly) ambivalent, but all three get a laugh out of one forbidden transgression. With John Dunmore departing the team, the guys review the Nittany Lions unsettled wide receiver group, and then tur...

Week 2 of the Penn State Berkey Creamery's Fantasy Flavor League  kicks off with a playoff-worthy matchup of Cookies 'n Cream versus Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, and the Obligatory cast has thoughts. On the Penn State football front, James Franklin appears to have made some critical upgrades to his assistant coaching staff over the past couple years. The guys focus specifically on special teams co...

It's October. We're getting real, live Penn State football this month! With the season approaching, Chris, Kevin, and Mailman kick around some potential storylines of interest - from the local in Happy Valley to all of college football - including how all the changes to James Franklin's staff might impact the Nittany Lions during this bizarre, COVID-shortened season. Chris plays moderator while Ke...

It's a grab bag of Penn State and college football topics as we get closer to once again enjoying Nittany Lions football Saturdays. James Franklin and staff continue their aggressive approach on the recruiting trail, so proactive, in fact, that they've offered a prospect in the Class or 2026. Scott Paterno began sharing a treasure trove of previously-unseen Joe Paterno footage on Twitter. With the...

The guys wrap up the conversation on college football recruiting, preview the Penn State Berkey Creamery's Fantasy Flavor League by dissecting the recipes and intangibles for Alumni Swirl and Scholar's Chip, and ponder whether Micah Parsons might not end up the last player sitting out for 2020 as Purdue's Rondale Moore announces his return to college football. Plus, Mike the Mailman's "certain to...

Like it or not, recruiting is what separates the great from the elite in college football, and no less authoritative a source on Penn State's recruiting than James Franklin himself just called out the program's recent efforts there. Ryan Snyder of Blue White Illustrated joins the show to break down all the key news and narratives around the talent pipeline in Happy Valley. What impact has the COVI...

It may have taken some time, a lot of confusion, frustration, and a few false starts (and it may not even be a very wise idea!), but Penn State football is coming back, and dammit, we're gonna celebrate. The guys share their initial reactions to the announcement of an eight-game Big Ten season for 2020, start talking a little actual football, and give the things they're most excited to see in this...

Does anyone have even the vaguest clue what is happening with Big Ten football in 2020? Doesn't seem like it. Not the cast of The Obligatory PSU Podcast . Not the endless stream of media talking heads and random program "insiders" on Twitter. Probably not even the people who are supposedly in charge of it (maybe them least of all). Recording as we all wait on the latest round of alleged "votes" th...