Shows / The Obligatory PSU Podcast
The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
Episodes
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
The Obligatory PSU PodcastFALL '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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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 Obligatory PSU Podcast
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)…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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 Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
The Obligatory PSU PodcastFALL '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 Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
FALL '25 Episode 6: Just Do It, One Last Time
Thanks to the podcast's Fall 2025 sponsor: Gold Hen *Use promo code MAILMAN at checkout To whatever extent a powerhouse football program grafted onto an R1…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
FALL '25 Episode 1: Defining "Success" for Penn State
Welcome the podcast's Fall 2025 sponsor: Gold Hen *Use promo code MAILMAN at checkout The roster has never been deeper or more talented. The vibes have never…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
FALL '24 Episode 13: Trojans Busted; Badgers Next
James Franklin and the Nittany Lions got the coveted, elusive, statement-making win they so desperately needed by defeating USC... or so it seemed. The…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
FALL '24 Episode 12: Runway to Destiny
It may take an extra bus trip to Harrisburg to get there, but the road date everybody circled on Penn State's 2024 schedule is finally upon us. Conference…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
FALL '24 Episode 11: White Out Energized
Well, "Bert" asked, and Nittany Nation answered. Penn State fans and media may have taken some liberties with the context around Bret Bielema's, "White Out…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
FALL '24 Episode 10: Facing Down Illinois (Wear White)
One mild upset in Lincoln and suddenly Penn State's Homecoming is set up for clash of nationally-ranked unbeatens under the Beaver Stadium lights that has fans…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
FALL '24 Episode 9: Kent Stand Ya
During the dull offseason months when football-starved fans obsess over such things, many observers noted a conspicuous flaw in the final version of Penn…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
FALL '24 Episode 8: Falcon L
In retrospect, perhaps it was inevitable: the season-opening road trip, the convincing win over a team and fanbase that talked a big game and couldn't back it…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
FALL '24 Episode 7: Country Roadkill
College football is back in all its glory, and for Penn State and many other would-be contenders across America, the rites of Fall have been renewed. The…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
FALL '24 Episode 6: Penn State Roster Breakdown (Defense)
Once again Chris is joined by fellow LION 90.7fm alum, former FIU and Miami Hurricanes broadcaster Mike Levine, to analyze the Nittany Lions roster in two…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
FALL '24 Episode 5: 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…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
FALL '24 Episode 4: Penn State Season Preview
On the cusp of another season of Nittany Lions football, the guys get together to discuss their dreams, aspirations, and fears for this year's team. Can new…
- The Obligatory PSU Podcast
FALL '24 Episode 3: College Football's Facelift
From the 12-team playoff to the "green dot," the 2024 college football season promises plenty of changes, large and small. As Penn State's opening kickoff in…