The Obligatory PSU Podcast
by Big Heads Media
The Obligatory PSU Podcast features wide-ranging discussions of Penn State sports, Nittany Lions football in particular, and all things Penn State and Happy Valley from the cast of The Obligatory PSU Pregame Show: Former Penn State and NFL defensive lineman Brandon Noble (’92-97), campus icon Mike “the Mailman” Herr, Mount Nittany Conservancy Board Secretary Kevin Horne, and seven-time Sam's Club Member Chris Buchignani. Along with a rotating cast of characters from around State College and across Nittany Nation, the guys focus on the stories, issues, and personalities surrounding the Blue and White fan experience.The Obligatory PSU Podcast delivers fun and insightful commentary on the teams, University, and place that are beloved by many thousands of students, alumni, and fans. There’s no pretense of objectivity or “journalistic” distance here; these guys are here because they care, and their Penn State knowledge and love shine through in every installment. The goal is to touch on a
Episodes
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FALL '26 Episode 17: Beat 'Em Like a Drum
Better late than never! Penn State beat the Purdue Boilermakers like the world's biggest drum, notching the first Big Ten win of the Matt Campbell era in Happy Valley (also the first against a "Power 4" opponent for the Nittany Lions this season). With the soft, warm glow of victory still...
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FALL '26 Episode 16: Searching for the Bottom
How much farther until we hit rock bottom? As the guys, in their post-Bye Week return, entertain some perhaps-surprising optimism about the team's short-term outlook for this weekend versus Purdue, they inevitably broaden their perspective to question just how long and how degrading Penn State's...
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FALL '26 Episode 15: Free Fallin'
While it's true that neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays Mike the Mailman from his appointed podcast appearances, he's got nothing on Kevin Horne's ironclad commitment to the devoted Obligatory audience in their hour of greatest need. Just like the fantastic White Out crowd…
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FALL '26 Episode 14: Over the Edge
Recorded roughly 12 hours after the Nittany Lions completed an embarrassing pillar-to-post implosion at Northwestern, the guys give their raw reactions to this latest indignity in what is currently the torturous experience of Penn State football fandom. Kevin, Brandon, Mike, and Chris are your...
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FALL '26 Episode 13: On the Brink
Our first podcast description of the season ended with this question: "Is Penn State football's new leadership playing the 'Moneyball' long game while restoring the spirit of Success with Honor or placating a shrinking segment of the fanbase as the rest of college football passes them by?" On...
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FALL '26 Episode 12: Hail, Alma Mater
It's Homecoming Week in Happy Valley! What better time of year for new head coach Matt Campbell, his staff, and his 3-0 team to begin their Big Ten journey than with the vocal support of a raucous Temu White Out (Helmet Stripe) crowd under the lights at Beaver Stadium as we celebrate everything...
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FALL '26 Episode 11: Bull Session
If Week One offered a pleasant distraction from the harsh realities of college football, Penn State's second game and first road contest of the season - a bus trip to the City of Brotherly Love to face the Temple Owls at the Eagles' stadium - quickly reminded coaches, players, and fans that the...
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FALL '26 Episode 10: Philadelphia Freedom
For the moment at least, the bad memories were banished - the lengthy, lingering shadows of a shattered season ripe with promise, a messy divorce rife with mutual recrimination and the ensuing miserable slog of a coaching search riddled with dead ends and false starts, an offseason loaded with...
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FALL '26 Episode 9: Marshall the Troops
FINALLY, FOOTBALL! And just in time, the gang is back to preview the highly unusual occasion of a new Penn State head football coach making his debut (ironically, the most "normal" such instance in nearly 60 years). Matt Campbell will lead the Nittany Lions out of the tunnel for the first time...
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FALL '26 Episode 8: Penn State Roster Review (Defense)
Chris welcomes back his old LION 90.7fm radio partner Mike Levine for a second week to complete their analysis of 2026 Nittany Lions roster. Led by former Penn State corner D'Anton Lynn, who left his post as defensive coordinator at USC to assume the same role under Matt Campbell, this defense...
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FALL '26 Episode 7: Penn State Roster Review (Offense)
Per Obligatory tradition, Chris enlists the assistance of his fellow LION 90.7fm alum Mike Levine to analyze the 2026 Nittany Lions roster in two installments, beginning with the offense. As undergrads, they brought a handful fo distracted listeners alternative live commentary on such…
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FALL '26 Episode 6: The Last James Franklin Show
Time to clear the cache. Penn State doesn't change head football coaches very often, and yet here we are. So before Matt Campbell leads the Nittany Lions out of the tunnel for the first time, we take one final look back at the good (considerable), the bad (undeniable), and the annoying across…
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FALL '26 Episode 5: The Zen of Matt Campbell
Fall camp opens this week. Summer graduation and Campus Move-In are right around the bend. Before you know it, Week Zero will be in the record books, and "Thundering Herd Hate Week" will be upon us. Many inquiring Nittany Lions want to know: Who is this guy set to lead the team out of the tunnel…
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FALL '26 Episode 4: Caught in the (Save College Sports) Act
If reactions to our second podcast episode this season are any indication, the members of our panel aren't the only fans falling out of love with college football in its modern form. For all of you who share that disillusionment and dissatisfaction, we've got some good news, some bad news, and…
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FALL '26 Episode 3: Generations of Greatness
How much has playing football for Penn State changed between the late 1900s and the digital age? This week, we consult our in-house experts: Two former football players, separated by 30 years exactly (Brandon Noble, freshman 1992 & Landon Tengwall, freshman 2021), compare their experiences to see...
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FALL '26 Episode 2: Where's Your Head At?
With all the upheaval in Happy Valley and across the college football landscape, who's lost that loving feeling? You don't need to squint too hard to see the 2026 college football season on the horizon. Before you know it, September 5th will dawn, and you'll be gathering in front of the TV with...
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FALL '26 Episode 1: Everything is Awesome (or Awful?)
Aaaaaand... we're back. Roughly six months into the Matt Campbell era in Happy Valley, Penn State is sinking like a stone in the national recruiting rankings, repeatedly beclowned by former bluechip commits who ultimately spurned the Nittany Lions for the likes of Nebraska and Rutgers....
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FALL '25 Episode 23: Opting In
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...
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FALL '25 Episode 22: Look Back on Penn State's WILD 2025
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...
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FALL '25 Episode 21: Introducing Matt Campbell
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...
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FALL '25 Episode 20: Legally Recorded Audio
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…
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FALL '25 Episode 19: We Have No Clue
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...
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FALL '25 Episode 18-A: Noble x Tengwall
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...
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FALL '25 Episode 18: Higher Terry
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...
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FALL '25 Episode 17: A Tale of Two Coaches
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…
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FALL '25 Episode 16: So Close, Yet So Far
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...
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FALL '25 Episode 15: A Disaster of Biblical Proportion
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...
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FALL '25 Episode 14: Run for Cover
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…
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FALL '25 Episode 13: Try, Try Again
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…
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FALL '25 Episode 12: #Unraveled
What began with such promise and hope in the wake of Bill O'Brien's departure has now come to an end in a fashion heretofore unseen at Penn State. James Franklin has been relieved of his duties as head football coach of the Nittany Lions. Athletic Director Pat Kraft has addressed Nittany Nation...
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FALL '25 BONUS: Northwestern Debacle Instant Reaction
From bad to worse to inconceivable (and yes, we know what it means). After another picture-perfect afternoon and wonderful weekend of celebration in Happy Valley was soured by an inexplicably dysfunctional football performance, Kevin and Chris trudged their way down from Beaver Stadium to…
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FALL '25 Episode 11: All Good Things
FRODO glances at SAM ... he is WEEPING. CLOSE ON: FRODO wrapping an ARM around SAM’S SHOULDER. FRODO (calm) I'm glad to be with you, Samwise Gamgee, here at the end of all things. HIGH WIDE: TWO TINY HOBBITS waiting to die amid a cataclysmic landscape ... LAVA erupts around them ... FIREBALLS…
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FALL '25 Episode 10: You Have Died of Dysentery
Welp.... Nothing quite like a fresh Obligatory when the guys are (sadly) at their best to cure what ails ya. Uncurl yourself from the fetal position, take your medicine, and crawl back into the saddle, because UCLA beckons, and you know you're too dumb, addicted, and masochistic to resist...
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FALL '25 Episode 9: Duck Hunt
PREEMPTIVE THERAPY! For us (some of us at least)? Certainly. For you too? Maybe also yes. Every so often, there comes a crucial inflection point so fraught with meaning and pregnant with possibility, mere contemplation of its monumental consequence can bring the beholder to the brink of insanity....
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FALL '25 Episode 8: Champagne Villanova in the Sky
There's a shortage of folks who can seamlessly code switch between profane tirades over football minutiae and waxing poetic about the magic of the Nittany Valley, and the cast of this progrum oversamples that population to an absurd degree. With Noble again sleeping off old age this week…
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FALL '25 Episode 7: Penn State is Still Number Two
Two games into a purported national championship run, the Nittany Lions are playing like their national ranking - number two. Packed with the sort of therapeutic soul-searching, gut-wrenching overreactions to what, at the end of the day, was a 34-0 victory over a nothing opponent in early…
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FALL '25 Episode 6: Just Do It, One Last Time
To whatever extent a powerhouse football program grafted onto an R1 land-grant university can have a meaningful relationship with a billion-dollar multinational sneaker company built on, let's say, questionable labor practices, that is the sort of partnership Penn State formed with Nike. Back in...
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FALL '25 Episode 5: Penn State Roster Breakdown (Defense)
Once again Chris is joined by fellow LION 90.7fm alum Mike Levine, to analyze the Nittany Lions roster, this time turning to the defense. James Franklin poached Jim Knowles, who many consider to be the sharpest defensive mind in the modern game, away from national champion Ohio State only days...
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FALL '25 Episode 4: Penn State Roster Breakdown (Offense)
Per Obligatory tradition, one of our most popular features returns: the Penn State football preview in which Chris enlists the assistance of fellow LION 90.7fm alum Mike Levine, to analyze the Nittany Lions roster in two installments, beginning with the offense. As undergrads, they brought their...
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FALL '25 Episode 3: Going Number Two
As if the excitement and national hype - and the attendant dread and pressure that accompany them - couldn't get any more intense, Penn State made its AP preseason poll debut at #2, receiving only a handful fewer first-place votes than top-ranked Texas. State's dizzying perch near the top of the...
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FALL '25 Episode 2: All Aboard the Hype Train
There's no denying it: Excitement is in the air in Happy Valley. Autumn's arrival always brings the energy of students returning to campus and the anticipation of another Penn State football season, but the attention and enthusiasm swirling around this year's version of the Nittany Lions is...
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FALL '25 Episode 1: Defining "Success" for Penn State
The roster has never been deeper or more talented. The vibes have never been more positive. According to James Franklin, the alignment with administration and support from boosters has never been better. In Franklin's tenure, entering its 12th year, the expectations have never been greater, and...
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SPRING '25 Episode 2: Spring Roster Rundown
As with our Fall roster breakdowns, Chris enlists the assistance of fellow LION 90.7fm alum, former FIU and Miami Hurricanes broadcaster Mike Levine, to analyze the Nittany Lions' current complement of talent as Spring football comes to a close and yet another "transfer portal window" lurches...
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SPRING '25 Episode 1: Turning the Page
Grab your pencil and your paper. We take one last, lingering look back at 2024, in all its glory and heartbreak, before turning our attention to a new season brimming with promise, as another Blue-White weekend ushers in a Summer of hope. HOSTED BY: Brandon Noble, Mike "The Mailman" Herr, Kevin...
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BONUS CONTENT: Penn State Poaches Jim Knowles!
BREAKING NEWS, BONUS CONTENT! James Franklin and Pat Kraft swung for the fences and made contact. Chris and Brandon give their snap reactions to Penn State's tectonic move to break the bank and poach Jim Knowles from the defending champion Ohio State Buckeyes to becomes the new Nittany Lions...
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FALL '24 Episode 18: Free Therapy
A sad fact of sports fandom is that most seasons end in disappointment. The higher you scale the ladder of anticipation, the harder the crash if you falter, and it is also an unfortunate truth that the pain of some losses can cut so deep and last so long that it crowds the many happy memories of...
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FALL '24 Episode 17: Beau Today, Gone Tomorrow
The NIL Era giveth, and it taketh away. On the veritable eve of the first-ever playoff game in Beaver Stadium, Penn State fans were hit with the double-whammy of two quarterback-related bombshells. While public confirmation of Drew Allar's long-rumored return for next season has fans and portal...
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FALL '24 Episode 16: Penn State, Let's Talk.
The Obligatory Cinematic Universe expands with a blockbuster crossover event as the gang gets back in the podcasting saddle. Noble, Kevin, and Chris team up with Steve Garguilo and Tim Buckley of the Let's Talk Penn State Podcast (like The Avengers, but with idiots). Enjoy this "meeting of the...
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FALL '24 Episode 15: Ohio State Pressure Cooker
A video released by Penn State's Athletic Department after the famous 2016 Ohio State game that kick-started the program's revival from the sanction era showed Coach Franklin exhorting his team at halftime: "Opportunity is knocking." Eight years and zero wins over the Buckeyes later, opportunity…
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FALL '24 Episode 14: Badgers Blasted; Buckeyes Next
They called it a trap game. They said the Nittany Lions were vulnerable. They questioned our offense and dismissed our defense. But when the lights came on at Camp Randall, both units - each of them thriving in their own way this season under new coordinators - played complementary football,...
About this show
The Obligatory PSU Podcast features wide-ranging discussions of Penn State sports, Nittany Lions football in particular, and all things Penn State and Happy Valley from the cast of The Obligatory PSU Pregame Show: Former Penn State and NFL defensive lineman Brandon Noble (’92-97), campus icon Mike “the Mailman” Herr, Mount Nittany Conservancy Board Secretary Kevin Horne, and seven-time Sam's Club Member Chris Buchignani. Along with a rotating cast of characters from around State College and across Nittany Nation, the guys focus on the stories, issues, and personalities surrounding the Blue and White fan experience.The Obligatory PSU Podcast delivers fun and insightful commentary on the teams, University, and place that are beloved by many thousands of students, alumni, and fans. There’s no pretense of objectivity or “journalistic” distance here; these guys are here because they care, and their Penn State knowledge and love shine through in every installment. The goal is to touch on a
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Big Heads Media