Worse Than Bad. Chip Kelly, Jerry Neuheisel and Northwestern Pile On Penn State. Again

EVANSTON, Ill. — Important dates in Big Ten Conference offensive coordinator hiring history, good to know especially now, in the aftermath of Penn State’s total collapse over the past six quarters (51-16) and two losses in the past six days:

Dec. 11, 2025: New Penn State head coach Matt Campbell hires his former OC at Iowa State, Taylor Mouser, as the Nittany Lions’ new OC.

Dec. 30, 2025: Northwestern head coach David Braun hires Chip Kelly as his new OC.

Jan. 1, 2026: Braun hires interim UCLA OC Jerry Neuheisel to be his quarterback coach.

The last time Kelly was a college OC, it was at Ohio State in 2024. That would be the year the Buckeyes won the national championship. And also beat Penn State, 20-13.

The first time Neuheisel was an OC: The week before the week that Northwestern beat Penn State and got James Franklin fired, UCLA played Penn State in the Rose Bowl. The Bruins were winless and a 24.5-point underdog. Neuheisel, a former UCLA QB and the tight ends coach, jumped into the interim OC role and dialed up five TDs for UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava. The Bruins won 42-37, becoming the first 0-4 or worse team to beat a top 10 team in 40 years.

Speaking of beating Penn State: Braun’s Northwestern team beat Penn State in 2025, 22-21. Which triggered the firing of Franklin.

More on Kelly beating Penn State, in 2024 and 2026: It was Kelly who gave the current PSU defensive coordinator, D’Anton Lynn, his first job as a DC, in 2023. And it was Lynn who Kelly took to the brand-spanking-new woodshed here on Friday night, as Northwestern thoroughly embarrassed Campbell and Penn State, 34-13.

(In 2007, Kelly was the OC at the University of Oregon in Eugene. In 2007, Mouser was flipping pizzas at Little Caesars in Chandler, Arizona. Since then, Kelly was head coach at Oregon, UCLA, and in the NFL with Philadelphia and San Francisco. Mouser, on the other hand, was OC at Iowa State for two years and last week called his play-calling “cowardly.”)

All of which brings us to the grand opening of the Wildcats’ $875 million Ryan Field on national TV. Braun and Kelly and Neuheisel were all on the winning sidelines en force for the tour de force…or is that tour de farce?…that exposed Penn State. Again.

Friday night, Northwestern gained 506 yards on offense, Penn State had 291. Northwestern averaged 7.3 yards per play, Penn State averaged 4.3. Northwestern had runs of 13, 16, 24, 36, 38 and 47 yards, Penn State had one double-digit run — of 10 yards. The Wildcats dominated Penn State along the line of scrimmage, both on offense and defense. Completely, totally.

Think that’s bad? Counting the time Penn State lost to Northwestern the last time (Oct. 11, 2025), the Nittany Lions have played 11 Big Ten Conference games in 2025 and ’26 with a desultory record of 3-8. Under three head coaches:

James Franklin was 0-3 (he made $8.5 million.) Terry Smith was 3-3 (he made a lot less). And Campbell is 0-2 (he’s guaranteed $8.8 million per year).

No wonder Penn State fans are up in arms. Bad? This was worse than bad. Last week, crumbling and turtling after leading 17-0 at home in the Big Ten opener? That was bad. 

This may have been the worst week of Campbell’s 15-year head coaching career, and maybe his football life:

LAST TUESDAY, Campbell said, “It’s like every decision in last Saturday night’s game has gone through your head a million times of how could you be better from that standpoint?” Now, with eight days until Penn State’s next game — the White Out next Saturday night in Beaver Stadium — Campbell has time to think through it all, as the late Carl Sagan used to say, “billions and billions” of times.

ON WEDNESDAY, I said to Campbell, “The loss on Saturday has a lot of Penn State fans on edge. Anything you can say to them to talk them off the ledge?” Campbell’s initial reply: “I do not know what I can say, other than do, right?”

The do? We found out what he meant: Dog-doo.

ON FRIDAY NIGHT, Campbell admitted that he and his team had another crappy performance. Of historically non-epic proportions, as far as Penn State tradition and legacy go. On top of it, he had Chip and Jerry and Wildcat Envy.

“Northwestern played the style of game that we would like to play,” Campbell confessed. “The frustrating thing for me is the standard of what this program plays football with — the attitude, the effort, the toughness. We lacked in every way, shape and form in it.”