Penn State picks White Out game date, announces 2023 game themes
Penn State has picked its White Out game for the 2023 season. The Nittany Lions will ask a sold-out Beaver Stadium crowd to wear white from head to toe in Week 4. That’s when Iowa visits the 107,000-seat venue in State College.
The program announced its other game day themes as well on Monday. They are as follows:
Sept. 2, West Virginia: Helmet stripe game
Sept. 9, Delaware: THON; Spirit Day; Youth Sport Day
Sept. 23, Iowa: White Out
Oct. 14, UMASS: Homecoming, Generations of Greatness
Oct. 28, Indiana: Military Appreciation Day; Seats for Servicemembers
Nov. 11, Michigan: Stripe out
Nov. 18, Rutgers: Senior Day; All-U Day
Penn State prefers a primetime White Out game
Fans have and will continue to debate which game is best for the White Out. But, Penn State head coach James Franklin made clear what his preference is before the 2022 season. Last year, Minnesota was the White Out game opponent.
“For us, our White Out game has typically been a night game with the fireworks, and the white t-shirts and clothing on the backdrop of the black sky,” Franklin said. “It’s pretty special. Although the 12 o’clock games, if you look at the ratings, the Big Ten has done unbelievably well, and I think it’s been an ingenious approach, in terms of starting out college football Saturdays with a primetime [caliber] game.
“The data said that most people want a night game,” Franklin said. “So we looked at our schedule. The game that we thought had the best chance to be a night game, another game we had seen [he’s implying Ohio State] was probably going to be a 12 o’clock game. That impacted the decision, and that’s where I was leaning [toward the pick being Minnesota]. The fans back that up. Then, when Pat [Kraft] came in, I asked him and right away he was he thought the same thing. So that’s why the choice was made.”
More kick times are expected to be announced this week. The Lions open the 2023 season against West Virginia. It starts at 7:30 p.m. ET. NBC is televising the contest. Penn State is 48-9-2 against tthe Mountaineers. This will mark the first meeting between the two schools since 1992.
