The Obligatory PSU Podcast

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

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 about the decision and interim head coach Terry Smith, a Nittany Lion through and through, has previewed what's next for the team's team six regular season games.Way more ground to cover than we can handle in a single episode, but the guys at least begin to unpack some of the most monumental news in the history of Penn State football.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

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 rain down from the sky. We SLOWLY FADE TO BLACK... Happy Homecoming. Go State.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

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. Such is the state of affairs for much of Penn State's fan base leading up to the third-ranked Nittany Lions' clash with Oregon under the lights at the White Out. With so much on the line, and every criticism of coach and quarterback in the biggest games ringing in their ears, Chris and Kevin air their hopes, fears, and frustrations about one game that could very well shatter or cement every narrative that has dogged this program for a decade, sorting through the jangled nerves, rankled senses, and shattered confidence brought on by a decade of perpetual failures in the moment of truth. All the while, Brandon and Mailman marvel at the grotesque spectacle of their tortured thinking. If you need to share in the self-administered coping mechanisms to soothe your mania and hasten the long hours until game day (and GameDay), then join us and ease your troubled heart and mind. However, if you count yourself among the rational and well-adjusted, why then you can just kick back and join Mike the Mailman and Noble in their bemusement at the curious madness of Horne and Buchignani.Either way, we can think of worse ways to count down the minutes to what promises to be among the most consequential evenings in Beaver Stadium history.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

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 September that has made Obligatory the go-to Penn State podcast for mentally imbalanced fans across the internets, this entertaining tug-o-war between the neuroses of Chris and Kevin and the sunshine stability of Mike the Mailman is just another reminder of why we all can't wait for Noble to come back out of jetlagged hibernation.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

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 after the confetti fell on the Buckeyes, making Knowles the highest-paid defensive coordinator in college football, dealing a blow to the program Penn State's struggled to surpass, and putting the sport on notice that Old State is coming for it all. What kind of squad does our new $3 million man inherit? Mostly what you'd expect from a Nittany Lions defense: fast, tenacious, athletic, and balancing proven talent with promising potential. The raw material is there to be molded into the type of unit that can help Franklin's highest profile hire earn a ring for a second straight season. HOSTED BY: Chris BuchignaniGUESTS: Mike LevineThe 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

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 charts is the topic of conversation, but not without a characteristic diversion, this time in the form an opening monologue from our most beloved (and most reviled) cast member. Come for Kevin Horne's defiant confessional. Stay for a special guest appearance from Let's Talk Penn State co-host Steve Garguilo who helps the gang unpack the excitement-to-dread ratio for long-suffering, long-time Penn State fans headed into a season bursting at the seams with equal parts promise and peril. HOSTED BY: Mike "The Mailman" Herr, Kevin Horne, Chris BuchignaniGUEST: Steve GarguiloEnjoy the lighter side of every Penn State season with the guys at Let's Talk Penn State: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-talk-penn-state/id1305484061The 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

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 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 that means the stakes have never been higher. So with all these top talents returning to Penn State for one final run and the national spotlight shining brightly on Happy Valley, does the elevated hype mean a higher standard for success this Fall? As we enter the final stretch of an offseason full of "championship or bust" talk, the guys kick off the new podcast season discussing how they define "success" for the 2025 Nittany Lions. 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