Penn State-UMass TV network announced; what channel is the game on?
Penn State welcomes Massachusetts to Beaver Stadium following its bye week. The non-conference clash has long been set for a 3:30 p.m. ET start. It is also the annual Homecoming game. Now, a television network assignment has been made.
The game will air on Big Ten Network. A broadcast team is not yet out ahead of the game. Penn State last met the Minutemen in 2014. It won that game 48-7. The series was announced in 2019 and was part of a mixed agreement that also included men’s basketball games. This contest was originally scheduled to be played in November. But, it had to be moved due to the updated 2023 Big Ten schedule.
Penn State is starting its bye week. It is No. 6 in the Associated Press top 25 and finished September with a perfect 5-0 mark after beating Northwestern 41-13 last Saturday at Ryan Field in Evanston, Ill. Umass is 1-5 ahead of a matchup with Toledo this week.
Penn State bye week plan
Reporters will have the chance to speak with all three coordinators, plus strength coach Chuck Losey, on Tuesday. Wednesday features an open practice viewing window and a chance to chat with Franklin. The Penn State staff is focused on itself early in the week. Later, it will hit the road to recruit.
“I think we’ve really kind of studied a lot of things in the offseason,” James Franklin said. “One of the things that we studied in great detail was bye weeks, and what is the best way to handle it that you can find that balance between recovery and getting the guys fresh, but also getting better? This is not this is a bye week. Not an off week.
“We got to get better this week, and that’s the fine line, right? What can we do during the week to allow the guys to recover? The weekend will be huge, especially if it’s handled the right way. And then obviously being able to dig into our self scout, offense, defense and special teams, and then as I won’t talk about, but we’re also going to get ahead. The coaches will get ahead on the schedule as well during this by week. But, next week will be totally, obviously, on our next opponent. So those are the things that we’re looking at pretty hard, pretty heavy. I think some of the positions that Pat [Kraft] has llowed us to hire has helped with that as well. We just got more people to do more things.”
