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Why Nittany Lions vs. Buckeyes isn't a white-out game

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Penn State football will host its biggest home game of the 2024 college football regular season in Week 10.

The opponent is none other than the Nittany Lions' Big Ten Conference rival No. 4 Ohio State – a game that has significant implications for the Big Ten Championship Game and the College Football Playoff.

It's a game that has both teams ranked in the top five in the US LBM Coaches' Poll and has all the makings of being Penn State's annual white-out game. In fact, Penn State has hosted Ohio State for its White Out game five times in its entire White Out history.

Required reading: College Football Playoff Predictions: Predict who would make the 12-team field after Week 9

But that won't be the case in 2024 as the Nittany Lions look to keep their undefeated season alive while the Buckeyes travel to Happy Valley and Beaver Stadium.

Here's what you need to know about why Penn State-Ohio State isn't a White Out, including when the Nittany Lions will hold their White Out this season:

Is Penn State-Ohio State a white out?

No, Penn State vs. Ohio State is not the Nittany Lions' white-out game for the 2024 college football season – even though Saturday's game will have the same game atmosphere.

In fact, Penn State fans weren't afraid to voice their opinions about Saturday's game not being a white out or being played at night.

Why isn't Penn State-Ohio State a white out?

The reason Saturday's Big Ten heavyweight showdown between Penn State and Ohio State isn't the Nittany Lions' white-out game appears to be because of TV rights.

Although it was only announced last week, the Nittany Lions-Buckeyes game was the likely choice for Fox's “Big Noon Kickoff” in Week 10, compared to the Big Ten game at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS or at 7:30 p.m ET game on NBC. At this point in the college football regular season, start time and television network information is not released until the week before.

According to Audrey Snyder of The Athletic, Saturday's game was not one of the networks' top four picks in their Network College Football Draft quote.

“This game was for us at No. 5 when we had three consecutive picks, and I just can't let this game fall to the eighth pick,” Mike Mulvihill, Fox's president of insight and analytics, told The Athletic. “That would almost be misconduct on my part. … Given the way the draft turned out, it was just clear that we had to take it.”

He added: “It is our job to introduce the schools we partner with to as many people as possible. If we can give our schools as much exposure as possible, it should benefit not only Fox, but them as well.” What we've found over the last six years is that it's very clear that broadcasting our best game is to lunchtime attracts the largest crowd for these games.”

What is a white out?

Self-explanatory: Every fan in the stadium wears white.

While games like White Out occur throughout college football and college athletics, Penn State is known for having this game on the schedule every year. Each year, the Nittany Lions choose the biggest home game of the season – traditionally against a ranked opponent – making Beaver Stadium one of the toughest venues in college football.

In EA Sports College Football 25, Beaver Stadium came in at No. 6 on the list of hardest places to play.

  1. Players from opposing teams must wear jerseys in contrasting colors. Players on the same team must wear jerseys of the same color and design
  2. The visiting team wears white jerseys; However, the home team is allowed to wear white jerseys if the teams have agreed to this in writing before the season
  3. If the home team wears colored jerseys, the visiting team may also wear colored jerseys if and only if the following two conditions are met:
    • The home team agreed in writing before the game; And
    • The home team's conference certifies that the away team's jersey is a contrasting color
  4. If a team wears a colored jersey at kick-off at the beginning of each half and thereby violates the above conditions, it will be a foul for unsportsmanlike conduct

However, the White Outs require Penn State to wear their home jerseys as opposed to their road white jerseys. Section 4, Article 5, Paragraph 3 of the NCAA Football Rule Book Statistics:

When will the Penn State football White Out occur in 2024?

The Nittany Lions will play their annual white-out game for the 2024 season next week against newly named Big Ten opponent Washington. A time for the game has not yet been determined nor which of the Big Ten broadcast partners will broadcast the game.

Based on last year's York Daily Report report, Penn State is 9-6 in white-out games with a full stadium and 11-8 overall (including white-outs for the student section only).

Here's last year's white out for Penn State against then-No. 24 Iowa at Beaver Stadium looked like this:

Next Saturday's meeting against the Huskies will be the first meeting between the two programs since the 2017 Fiesta Bowl, when Penn State defeated Washington 35-28. According to Penn State's media guide, the Nittany Lions lead the all-time series against the Huskies 3-0.

Penn State announced its nationally known White Out Game for next week's game against Washington back in July when it announced gameday themes for the entire 2024 football season.

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