Is it gonna be Kalani Sitake? Jeff Brohm? Some shadowy mystery candidate? And whoever it ends up being, will that guy actually have a roster left to coach by the time he gets here? As we all sit on increasingly uncomfortable pins and needles awaiting resolution of Penn State’s marathon head coaching search, the guys ponder whether Pat Kraft ever really had a plan at all and try to tie up some other loose ends that will still have relevance even if someone gets hired before you get a chance to listen.

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Once the calendar flips past Thanksgiving, if you’re one of the fortunate few teams who is at the top of college football’s food chain, you start turning your attention to the playoff.

If you’re not, you start thinking about next season.

All due respect to whatever low-tier bowl game the Nittany Lions might play in after barely defeating Rutgers on Saturday in Piscataway, most Penn State fans are focused on the future, and what an uncertain future it is. So much of what 2026 holds for the program will hinge on who the next head coach is, but the roster makeup just might play a role, too. Though the transfer portal has blurred these lines a bit, college football teams are still largely divided into three distinct groups: The guys who won’t be back next season because they’re out of eligibility and/or going to the league, the guys who will be back next season, and the incoming recruits and transfers.

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The Beaver Stadium crowd chanted for one of their own as he’d just vanquished a fellow Nittany Lion in a battle of Paterno legacies leading hobbled blue bloods. Kaytron Allen became Penn State’s all-time leading rusher. A disappointing team that didn’t give up on their season battled back to within striking distance of bowl eligibility, and at least for a day, the fans had something to celebrate. Without the services of our resident Lettermen, Obligatory’s campus icon and two tackling dummies look back on a fun night that offered a rare bright spot in an otherwise bleak season, and we punch our tickets for the Terry Train before it sails off into the sunset.