Matt Campbell and the Nittany Lions open their 2026 season Saturday afternoon in Beaver Stadium against Marshall. It’s Campbell’s first game as Penn State’s head coach, and even though he’s just 46 years old, it will be his 15th season opener as a big boss in college football.
So, Campbell has been in this spot before. That includes coaching a new team in their — and his — season-opener. And, previously at Toledo and Iowa State, he’s lost both times.
As it is, Campbell is a bit of a rarity at Dear Old State. He is just the fourth Penn State head football coach to coach his first season opener at PSU in the past 60 years, and the eighth in the past 108 years.
Overall, as a head coach, Campbell is 9-5 in season openers. He was 2-2 as a boy wonder at Toledo and 7-3 as a culture-builder at Iowa State. However, against teams not named Northern Iowa, he is 5-4. At Iowa State, Campbell’s Cyclones opened their season at home vs. Northern Iowa five times, and they won four of them.
Talking about Campbell and first season-openers as a head coach comes with a caveat: His first game as head coach at Toledo actually came in a season-ender.
In 2011, Campbell was the Rockets’ offensive coordinator under head coach Tim Beckman. After a 7-3 regular season and accepting an invitation to play Air Force in the Military Bowl, Beckman bolted to become head coach at Illinois. Campbell assumed the reins and, at age 32, he was the youngest head coach in the FBS. Toledo won, 42-41, and Campbell was awarded with the top job on a permanent basis.
Campbell’s biggest season-opening victory came in 2015 at Toledo, when the Bobcats traveled to Arkansas and beat the Razorbacks, 16-12. He came close to defeating Arizona on the road in Toledo’s 2012 season opener, his first game as a permanent head coach, when Toledo fell 24-17 in overtime.
CAMPBELL’S LID-LIFTERS
Here’s a breakdown of Campbell’s record in season-openers as head coach at Toledo and Iowa State.
TOLEDO — Seasons: 2012-2015. Season-openers, overall: 2-2. Wins: New Hampshire (H), Arkansas (A). Losses: Arizona (A), Florida (A). First opener @ Toledo: Toledo lost on the road at Arizona, falling 24-17 in OT in 2012. It was also Arizona’s first game under head coach Rich Rodriguez. The Wildcats finished 8-5, went 2-3 vs. Top 25 teams and beat No. 10 USC. Toledo finished 9-4 overall and 6-2 in the MAC. After the initial loss, Toledo went on an eight-game winning streak that included a 29-23 win over No. 21 Cincinnati. Toledo lost 41-15 to Utah State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
IOWA STATE — Seasons: 2016-2025. Season-openers, overall: 7-3. Wins: Northern Iowa (4, H), Southeast Missouri (H), North Dakota (H), Kansas State (Ireland). Losses: Northern Iowa (H), Iowa (A), Louisiana (H). First opener @ Iowa State: The Cyclones fell to in-state rival Northern Iowa, 25-20, at home in Jack Trice Stadium. Iowa State led 13-7, but Northern Iowa rallied by scoring nearly every way possible — safety, field goal, PAT, two touchdowns — to record the upset.
The Associated Press’ lead paragraph of its game report: “AMES, IOWA — Iowa State coach Matt Campbell arrived in Ames promising to change a culture accustomed to losing. Campbell’s debut ended with a crushing defeat that looked like so many the Cyclones have suffered in the past.” Iowa State started the 2016 season 1-7 and finished 3-9 overall, and 2-7 in the Big 12. Campbell’s first win at ISU came in the Cyclones’ fourth game, a 44-10 romp over visiting San Jose State.
PENN STATE SEASON-OPENERS
Marshall is not quite the team that Hugo Bezdek faced in his first game as the Pennsylvania State College’s head coach in 1918, just nine days before the Armistice that effectively ended World War I. Bezdek’s first opponent at Pennsylvania State College was Wissahickon Barracks, which played Penn State to a 6-6 tie.
Saturday’s venue is much friendlier than Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland, where James Franklin’s Nittany Lions defeated Central Florida, 26-24, in Franklin’s first game as a PSU head coach in 2014.
Penn State football’s 16 non-interim head coaches prior to Campbell were 12-4 when coaching their first game for the Nittany Lions. The victories: Gettysburg (2), Mansfield, Susquehanna, Dickinson Seminary, Grove City, Harrisburg Athletic Club, Westminster, Wissahickon Barracks, Niagara, Maryland and Central Florida. The losses: Penn (2, both on the road), Villanova and Ohio. From 1887-91, Penn State did not have a coach and went 3-1-1 in season-openers. Until 1893, Penn State’s home games were played on the Old Main lawn.
Bill O’Brien in 2012 no doubt faced the toughest initial season-opener of all the Penn State head coaches. The Nittany Lions were playing under heavy NCAA sanctions, and were minus 2011’s top rusher, kicker and receiver, who all transferred. Penn State led visiting Ohio University 14-3 at halftime, but lost 24-14 to the Bobcats.
Joe Paterno, at 39-7, was the king of season-opening success at Penn State. Franklin — Campbell’s predecessor — was 10-2 in season-openers, while Hugo Bezdek (1918-1929) was 11-0-1, Bob Higgins (1930-48) was 16-3 and Rip Engle (1950-65) was 11-4.
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