STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Fans’ hopes of filing into Beaver Stadium on Nov. 2 after the sun sets and waiting anxiously among the White Out crowd to see how Penn State and Ohio State match up are fading.
In a perfect world, a prime-time White Out against the Buckeyes gives Penn State brass and fans everything they desire. There’s the visual spectacle of 107,000 people wearing white and shaking white pom-poms popping against the night sky. It’s delightful to see in person, on TV and in recruiting graphics. There’s also the raucous environment that comes with it, creating a true home-field advantage for the biggest home game of the season.
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This year, however? Don’t get your hopes up.
While the White Out is the perfect made-for-TV spectacle, complete with pregame fireworks and inevitably an opposing quarterback flailing his arms at his receivers as an avalanche of sound rumbles, Penn State is again at a crossroads — and at the mercy of TV scheduling — with the question of when to use its signature big-game crowd theme.
As we’re often reminded this time of year as game times trickle out, TV networks hold all the cards. With the Big Ten fully removed from ESPN/ABC, its TV schedule comes down to a television draft featuring Fox, CBS and NBC. Penn State administrators can let their preferences be known — and I assure you they recognize the importance of having a night game against Ohio State as a White Out — but it’s out of their control. TV is running the show, and based on the early outlook, Penn State is barreling toward another White Out conundrum.
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It’s becoming more of the norm rather than the exception. The advent of Fox’s “Big Noon Saturday” and the mega ratings that come with the marquee game of the week often starting the day at noon ET have forced Penn State to stray from saving the White Out spectacle for the biggest home game of the season. Penn State picks the game themes, but it’s working within the confines of the start times that are known.
There have recently been White Outs against Minnesota, Auburn and Iowa, all three of them coming in part because they were night games. Penn State polled fans on social media in 2022 asking if they preferred the White Out be reserved for the biggest game of the season or a night game. At the time, fans picked the latter. That detail seems especially notable now because Penn State could use that same justification to pencil in the White Out for what otherwise could be — on paper at least — a less-than-scintillating night game this season.
| Date | Team | Time (ET) | TV |
|---|---|---|---|
Sept. 7 | Noon | BTN | |
Sept. 21 | TBA | TBA | |
Sept. 28 | 3:30, 4 or 7:30 | TBA | |
Oct. 5 | TBA | TBA | |
Nov. 2 | TBA | TBA | |
Nov. 9 | TBA | TBA | |
Nov. 30 | TBA | TBA |
Illinois on Sept. 28 might fit that bill. So could UCLA on Oct. 5 or Washington on Nov. 9. To be clear, start times are still not set for any of those three games, though Illinois is the closest to a safe bet because it’s already slated for 3:30, 4 or 7:30 p.m. Penn State could announce it and the advance planners could have their White Out theme known months in advance.
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There could also be some intrigue in designating Big Ten newcomer UCLA or Washington as a White Out — if they’re night games. Washington seems less likely as a White Out option to me for a couple of reasons. For one, there can be some challenges in trying to White Out the stadium once calendars turn to mid-November. James Franklin humorously, yet accurately, hit on it in 2022 when more than a few eyebrows were raised with Minnesota getting the White Out nod in late September.
“If you want all the fans to dress up in white, that becomes more difficult later in the season when people want to wear their hunting gear to try to stay warm,” Franklin said.
Layering wouldn’t be required in late September, perhaps putting another chip in favor of that Illinois game. Something else that complicates Washington, in my mind at least, is the timing of it a week after Ohio State’s visit to Happy Valley. That game against the Buckeyes is an inflection point for the season. While one loss in the new 12-team College Football Playoff era doesn’t end a team’s CFP hopes, it sure could feel like a thud should the Nittany Lions lose to Ohio State and then have to try to build up the next game with all the extra hype and energy that comes with the White Out.
There’s also the likelihood that Washington, which lost most of its starters and its coach, isn’t close to the same team that played in the national title game last January.
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So, if you’re still holding out hope for a Penn State-Ohio State spectacle featuring at least some stadium lights this season — and remember, at 3:30 p.m. in November the sun would set during the game — is there any shot?
Here’s what we know so far: Fox owned the first three picks of dates in the draft and chose Ohio State-Michigan and Michigan-Texas with the first two. As outlined on Fox analyst Joel Klatt’s podcast by Michael Mulvihill, the network’s president of insights and analytics, Fox was so torn on what to do with the third pick that Mulvihill said it traded it to another undisclosed network. It still ended up with Nov. 2 as its next pick anyway.
That doesn’t mean Penn State-Ohio State is a lock for a noon kickoff, as Nov. 2 is shaping up to be a big day with both Ohio State at Penn State and a tantalizing new Big Ten matchup between Oregon and Michigan. It’s possible Fox chooses the showdown in Ann Arbor, leaving Penn State-Ohio State for later in the day for whomever has the next pick between CBS and NBC. But that information is unlikely to be finalized until 12 days before the game.
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There’s another layer to all this that I hadn’t thought of until Mulvihill mentioned it with Klatt: Nov. 2 is just three days before the presidential election. These games will be a massive advertising opportunity for candidates to make a final push. The financial implications that come from targeting these audiences — specifically with voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and beyond — is a ripe opportunity for the networks. So, you might potentially get bombarded with political ads and a noon kickoff.
Now, Penn State could scrap the idea of banking on a night White Out altogether and take an already juiced atmosphere for an Ohio State game and elevate it to another level regardless of the start time. It would certainly be different at noon, but the caliber of the opponent would be assured. There’s also the Stripe Out theme that’s become a sneaky-good second theme for big games, too.
Whatever TV dictates and Penn State decides, it’s clear that in the new era of Big Ten on TV, the White Out — and at what time it occurs — is likely to become an annual point of contention.
(Top photo: Matthew O’Haren / USA Today)