A No. 18 preseason ranking and a 3-0 start, albeit against weak competition, certainly fueled potentially overzealous expectations for Matt Campbell’s first year with Penn State football.

Since then, it’s been tough sledding for the Nittany Lions, who have lost four straight conference matchups. Regardless of how loud the noise gets, however, Campbell is focused on one thing.

Building an identity.

“That’s really been our focus from day one. More than a win or a loss or talking about those end goals,” Campbell said Tuesday. “[End goals] always take care of themselves when you take care of yourself. And I think that’s really been our focus to be quite honest with you, really all season long.”

So while some Penn State fans are demanding Campbell and Penn State to win at least three more games to receive bowl-game eligibility, nobody in the Lasch Football Building is preaching that specific goal.

Instead, Campbell said he’s taking a “week-to-week” approach centered on moving the entire program toward its best possible version in 2026.

“How far away are we in some of these areas from where we want to go and where we need to go to have that identity as we continue to move ourselves forward as a football program?” Campbell posed.

Of course, that’s easier said than done, and not just Campbell, but the team’s top leaders have acknowledged that, too.

“I think a lot of people want immediate success, and a lot of people want everything to be perfect, and that’s just not what life is,” receiver Chase Sowell said Tuesday during weekly media availability.

Sowell has been Penn State’s alpha in the receiver room since Koby Howard’s Week 3 injury. The former Iowa State man has racked up 384 yards and two touchdowns on 26 catches in four Big Ten games.

However, the redshirt senior has been just as effective off the field as a veteran leader.

Sowell said he adopted much of Campbell’s leadership style through conversations with his younger brother, Hunter, a cornerback at Penn State.

After starting his collegiate career as a walk-on at Iowa State in 2025, Hunter Sowell followed his brother and head coach to Happy Valley and earned a full scholarship.

“[Coach Campbell] talked to him about elevating your role, whether that’s scout team, whether that’s firing away on special teams, but learning your role and then taking that and going in on your process about your role,” Chase Sowell said. “Whatever my role is, my process should be dedicated to being the best I can be at that role.”

Chase Sowell played at Colorado and Eastern Carolina before his stops in Ames, Iowa, and now at State College.

Through that constant change, Sowell has reminded younger players not to get lost in the future, but to focus on correcting the present.

“Even if you are transferring or thinking about transferring, we’re not in a position for any of our guys to get picked up by anybody,” Sowell said. “Your mindset shouldn’t even be on the transfer portal, like you should be thinking about making some plays to even get looked at or get those opportunities.”

Despite Penn State’s four-game skid, Campbell hasn’t had to hound players about a potential offseason departure.

Instead, he commended his team for the elasticity they’ve shown over the bye week.

“To watch that group really come to work and demand a pathway forward, that part is certainly energizing,” Campbell said. “You’re really excited to continue to say we got the right people in the locker room, and I feel really strong about that today.”

Campbell named linebacker Tony Rojas as another veteran who has stepped up in the locker room to elevate practices and sustain competitive energy.

Frankly, it would be easy for Rojas, Penn State’s best defensive player and a multiple mid-season All-American, to throw his hands up and dismiss leadership responsibilities, but that couldn’t be further from his reality.

“Once we’re out and done with our reps, we just got to keep the young guys focused, make them involved, and just make it as fun as possible,” Rojas said.

The redshirt junior also named defensive tackle Armstrong Nnodim as a key voice on the practice field.

As the team reaches the “third-quarter” of its season, Campbell insists on keeping his long-term holistic process unchanged.

“I still think leadership is not when it’s going great. Leadership is the ability to build culture, and when you’re not getting the results you want, identifying why you’re not getting them, but certainly not leaving the plan of how you want to build the team and what the expectations are in terms of standards and expectations,” he said.