The Obligatory PSU Podcast

Penn State's 2025 football season officially came to a close with the Nittany Lions' 22-10 victory over Clemson in the Pinstripe Bowl. While both rosters were limited by player injuries and opt-outs, interim head coach Terry Smith and a Penn State team that went to hell and back over 12 regular season games plus the bowl both got to leave the stage as winners. The guys give their final thoughts on Penn State's victory at Yankee Stadium and the current state of bowl season in modern college football.Chris and Noble weigh in on Penn State's new defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn: https://youtu.be/rPjG5_9iSHMHOSTED BY: Brandon Noble, Mike "The Mailman" Herr, Kevin Horne, Chris BuchignaniThe Obligatory PSU Podcast has been brought to you all season long by Gold Hen, a Penn State alumni-owned company, makers of the truly one-of-a-kind Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix. Try it today by going to: GoldHenLLC.comThe unique flavor profile of Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix complements a variety of alcohols and makes an excellent marinade or cooking ingredient.The best way to support the show this season is to try some for yourself – go to GoldHenLLC.com and take 10% off at checkout with the promo code: MAILMAN

As calendar year 2025 approaches its end, the guys pour some egg nog, gather around the yule log, and retell the long and winding tale of a crazy year in Penn State football. Sure to warm your heart and freeze your blood, it's the perfect distraction from (or contribution to) your holiday season stress.Check out our Pinstripe Bowl preview on this week's Pregame Show: https://youtu.be/f7rWyWasBLY?si=du0E-ACzSGEdQApiHOSTED BY: Brandon Noble, Kevin Horne, Chris BuchignaniThe Obligatory PSU Podcast is brought to you all season long by Gold Hen, a Penn State alumni-owned company, makers of the truly one-of-a-kind Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix. Try it today by going to: GoldHenLLC.comThe unique flavor profile of Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix complements a variety of alcohols and makes an excellent marinade or cooking ingredient.The best way to support the show this season is to try some for yourself – go to GoldHenLLC.com and take 10% off at checkout with the promo code: MAILMAN

Penn State football has a new head coach! It may have taken Pat Kraft a couple of months, cost us a recruiting class, and ended with a stranger-than-fiction leaked audio scandal destined for memetic infamy, but Penn State's AD got his man in former Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell. The guys react to Campbell's introductory press conference - expanding on their thoughts from The Obligatory PSU Pregame Show and adding Brandon's perspective - and then consider what comes next on a roller coaster ride that (with roster retention, staff changes, a bowl game, and the transfer portal all looming) may be closer to its beginning than its end.More on the Matt Campbell hire from this week's Pregame Show: https://youtu.be/OAFT1ilAOik?si=owIdRjeCYBZdR2VHHOSTED BY: Brandon Noble, Mike "The Mailman" Herr, Kevin Horne, Chris BuchignaniThe Obligatory PSU Podcast is brought to you all season long by Gold Hen, a Penn State alumni-owned company, makers of the truly one-of-a-kind Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix. Try it today by going to: GoldHenLLC.comThe unique flavor profile of Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix complements a variety of alcohols and makes an excellent marinade or cooking ingredient.The best way to support the show this season is to try some for yourself – go to GoldHenLLC.com and take 10% off at checkout with the promo code: MAILMAN

Mercifully overshadowed by the real news of the day (Matt Campbell to PSU), the largely innocuous leaked audio of athletic director Pat Kraft's behind-closed-doors meeting with leaders of the football team put one final, bizarre turd in the punch bowl of Penn State's wild, wacky, embarrassing, and yet somehow pretty successful head coaching search. We discuss the fallout and call for a ceasefire in the suddenly reignited civil war between Staters of good faith.Watch Noble and Chris discuss Matt Campbell here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D8SzofSev4HOSTED BY: Kevin Horne, Chris BuchignaniThe Obligatory PSU Podcast is brought to you all season long by Gold Hen, a Penn State alumni-owned company, makers of the truly one-of-a-kind Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix. Try it today by going to: GoldHenLLC.comThe unique flavor profile of Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix complements a variety of alcohols and makes an excellent marinade or cooking ingredient.The best way to support the show this season is to try some for yourself – go to GoldHenLLC.com and take 10% off at checkout with the promo code: MAILMAN

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. HOSTED BY: Mike "The Mailman" Herr, Kevin Horne, Chris BuchignaniThe Obligatory PSU Podcast is brought to you all season long by Gold Hen, a Penn State alumni-owned company, makers of the truly one-of-a-kind Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix. Try it today by going to: GoldHenLLC.comThe unique flavor profile of Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix complements a variety of alcohols and makes an excellent marinade or cooking ingredient.The best way to support the show this season is to try some for yourself – go to GoldHenLLC.com and take 10% off at checkout with the promo code: MAILMAN

BONUS CONTENT: As hinted at during this week's show, we couldn't let the Terry Smith momentum pass - along with quite possibly our last (God willing) opportunity to speculate about Penn State's head coaching search - without looping in Obligatory's two favorite Nittany Lions Lettermen. Before you sit down to Thanksgiving dinner, enjoy a side old school football talk and tough truth telling as both Brandon Noble and Landon Tengwall join the panel.We're always thankful for you, our audience, and we wish you the happiest of Thanksgiving weekends. Go State!HOSTED BY: Brandon Noble, Landon Tengwall, Mike "The Mailman" Herr, Kevin Horne, Chris BuchignaniThe Obligatory PSU Podcast is brought to you all season long by Gold Hen, a Penn State alumni-owned company, makers of the truly one-of-a-kind Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix. Try it today by going to: GoldHenLLC.comCHECK OUT THE STOREWIDE BLACK FRIDAY SALE – go to GoldHenLLC.com and take 10% off at checkout with the promo code: MAILMAN

TER-RY! TER-RY! TER-RY!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.HOSTED BY: Mike "The Mailman" Herr, Kevin Horne, Chris BuchignaniThe Obligatory PSU Podcast is brought to you all season long by Gold Hen, a Penn State alumni-owned company, makers of the truly one-of-a-kind Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix. Try it today by going to: GoldHenLLC.comThe unique flavor profile of Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix complements a variety of alcohols and makes an excellent marinade or cooking ingredient.The best way to support the show this season is to try some for yourself – go to GoldHenLLC.com and take 10% off at checkout with the promo code: MAILMAN

Penn State's former coach, James Franklin, has officially locked down his next gig. Penn State's current coach, Terry Smith, got his first win, brought home the Land-Grant Trophy, and then brought down the house with an emotional press conference when he explained exactly what it means to him to be leading the football program at his alma mater. The guys talk about the future of Franklin at Virginia Tech and the future at Penn State and Terry's place in it.HOSTED BY: Brandon Noble, Mike "The Mailman" Herr, Kevin Horne, Chris BuchignaniThe Obligatory PSU Podcast is brought to you all season long by Gold Hen, a Penn State alumni-owned company, makers of the truly one-of-a-kind Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix. Try it today by going to: GoldHenLLC.comThe unique flavor profile of Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix complements a variety of alcohols and makes an excellent marinade or cooking ingredient.The best way to support the show this season is to try some for yourself – go to GoldHenLLC.com and take 10% off at checkout with the promo code: MAILMAN

From the players to the coaches to the fans, everybody brought their Saturday best against Indiana, but in keeping with the theme of this cursed season, it wasn't enough. The Hoosiers prevailed, and in heart-breaking fashion, narrowly avoiding a costly upset loss and denying Coach Terry Smith and the beleaguered Penn State fanbase the signature win they deserve. And yet amid that disappointment there also arose a powerful reminder of everything that makes Penn State football great - the resilient stuff that will survive this moment as it has endured many tougher trials in the past and will be here waiting, strong as ever, when the storm breaks and the next coach arrives.HOSTED BY: Brandon Noble, Mike "The Mailman" Herr, Kevin Horne, Chris BuchignaniThe Obligatory PSU Podcast is brought to you all season long by Gold Hen, a Penn State alumni-owned company, makers of the truly one-of-a-kind Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix. Try it today by going to: GoldHenLLC.comThe unique flavor profile of Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix complements a variety of alcohols and makes an excellent marinade or cooking ingredient.The best way to support the show this season is to try some for yourself – go to GoldHenLLC.com and take 10% off at checkout with the promo code: MAILMANFor delivery before Thanksgiving, place your orders before kickoff of the Penn State-Michigan State game on Saturday, November 15!

Following the annual dispiriting loss to Ohio State - somehow both more AND less discouraging than usual - the unranked Penn State Nittany Lions return home to face undefeated and second-ranked Indiana as double-digit underdogs... IN FOOTBALL. What is this world coming to? And what's next? Real "wrath of God" type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling. Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes. Volcanoes. The dead rising from the grave. HOSTED BY: Brandon Noble, Mike "The Mailman" Herr, Kevin Horne, Chris BuchignaniThe Obligatory PSU Podcast is brought to you all season long by Gold Hen, a Penn State alumni-owned company, makers of the truly one-of-a-kind Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix. Try it today by going to: GoldHenLLC.comThe unique flavor profile of Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix complements a variety of alcohols and makes an excellent marinade or cooking ingredient.The best way to support the show this season is to try some for yourself – go to GoldHenLLC.com and take 10% off at checkout with the promo code: MAILMAN

Bye Week's over now. Back to the real world.Penn State didn't get the win in Terry Smith's debut as interim head coach versus Iowa, but they did cover the spread for the first time this season. Can the Nittany Lions make it a streak and keep the margin within three touchdowns in Columbus? It seems like the best a beleaguered Nittany Nation can hope for. The guys ponder PSU's quest for small comfort against the top-ranked Buckeyes and a college coaching carousel that is quickly spinning out of control.HOSTED BY: Brandon Noble, Mike "The Mailman" Herr, Kevin Horne, Chris BuchignaniThe Obligatory PSU Podcast is brought to you all season long by Gold Hen, a Penn State alumni-owned company, makers of the truly one-of-a-kind Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix. Try it today by going to: GoldHenLLC.comThe unique flavor profile of Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix complements a variety of alcohols and makes an excellent marinade or cooking ingredient.The best way to support the show this season is to try some for yourself – go to GoldHenLLC.com and take 10% off at checkout with the promo code: MAILMAN

Time to refocus on football, concentrate on all that lies ahead, and make an uplifting episode about the future and its boundless possibilities. Or at least that was the plan for this week. Then Horne got into the good stuff, and, well, it turns out we're not all the way over the breakup just yet. Maybe next week. After all, just like the Penn State football team's season and the Athletic Department's quest for a championship-winning coach: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.HOSTED BY: Brandon Noble, Mike "The Mailman" Herr, Kevin Horne, Chris BuchignaniThe Obligatory PSU Podcast is brought to you all season long by Gold Hen, a Penn State alumni-owned company, makers of the truly one-of-a-kind Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix. Try it today by going to: GoldHenLLC.comThe unique flavor profile of Gold Hen Bloody Mary Mix complements a variety of alcohols and makes an excellent marinade or cooking ingredient.The best way to support the show this season is to try some for yourself – go to GoldHenLLC.com and take 10% off at checkout with the promo code: MAILMAN