Start of Matt Campbell era has turned Penn State into Unhappy Valley

The Matt Campbell era might end up working out at Penn State. He might prove to be the guy to get them back into national championship contention and do what James Franklin couldn't do and finish the job. 

It's still early. 

Maybe these first few games are just a necessary speed bump on the path to glory.

They better be, anyway, because things are looking grim at Penn State after a second straight Big Ten loss on Friday night.

Penn State not only lost to Northwestern in the opening of the new Ryan Field; it was absolutely and systematically demolished in a 34-13 rout that was not even that close. This was a complete beatdown from the opening kickoff. 

Penn State looks completely unprepared for the big time at the start of Matt Campbell era

After cruising through a mostly cupcake nonconference schedule, Campbell's introduction into Big Ten play has been a disaster. 

It began with them blowing a 17-0 lead at home a week ago against Wisconsin, which sent Penn State from a No. 13 ranking nationally to completely out of the top 25.

It continued on Friday with an even worse performance. 

The Wildcats bludgeoned Penn State on both sides of the line of scrimmage, rushing for 413 yards, including two rushers, Caleb Komolafe and Joseph Himon II, who topped the 160-yard mark. 

That is a staggering performance, and one that says just as much about Penn State's defense as it does Northwestern's offense.

While offensive coordinator Chip Kelly was pushing all of the right buttons in his play-calling for Northwestern, Penn State's defense could not tackle anybody and was serving as a turnstile for most of the night along the defensive line.

It's a problem.

Also a problem is the play of quarterback Rocco Becht. He followed Campbell to Penn State from Iowa State with the expectation that he would be an experienced leader and give his new team big-time quarterback play. But he has struggled mightily the past two weeks, completing just 26-of-41 passes on Friday and throwing two interceptions.

Everything is going wrong.

The complaint from Penn State fans in the Franklin era is that they were tired of winning the games they were supposed to win and losing the big games. 

For two years now, under both Franklin and Campbell, they are not only losing the big games, but they are also still losing the games they were supposed to win. 

It has happened two weeks in a row, and the schedule is not getting any easier in the coming weeks with a home game against USC next Saturday, which is followed by a road game at Michigan. If they do not sweep those two games, any playoff hopes they might have had for this season could be gone. If they are not already.