Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1030409
F O O T B A L L Schedules through 2025 season nearly complete If you're the type who likes to plan ahead, the Penn State football program has got you covered. The Nittany Lions' conference sched- ules up through the 2025 season were recently announced, along with the dates for a number of nonconference games against opponents that had pre- viously been revealed. In addition, Penn State announced several new noncon- ference matchups, including a pact with Temple that will extend the Lions' inter- mittent yet long-running series against the Owls through the 2027 season. Since the Big Ten switched to a nine- game conference schedule in 2016, East Division teams have played five home games during even-numbered years and four in odd-numbered years. That for- mat remains in place in the recently re- leased schedules, meaning that Penn State will host five conference games in 2022 and '24 and four in 2023 and '25. But some things are changing. One significant departure from past sched- ules is that the Lions will begin their 2021 and '22 seasons against conference opponents. They will face Wisconsin on Sept. 4, 2021, and Purdue on Sept. 3, 2022. The 2021 schedule had previously been announced. The game against the Badgers will mark the first time since 1994 that Penn State has opened its sea- son against a conference rival. In 2023, the Lions will open their Big Ten season on Sept. 16 at Illinois, two weeks after playing host to West Vir- ginia on Sept. 2. The following year, Penn State will open conference play on Sept. 14 at Rutgers after first facing the Mountaineers on Aug. 31 in Morgantown and Bowling Green on Sept. 7 at Beaver Stadium. One other change, at least from re- cent scheduling trends, is that the Lions won't be ending all of their up- coming seasons against regional oppo- nents. While the 2019 through 2022 seasons will all conclude against Rut- gers and the '23 season at Maryland, the next two will end with games against Michigan State. Penn State will play host to the Spartans on Nov. 30, 2024, and will travel to East Lansing on Nov. 29, 2025. One other noteworthy aspect of the Big Ten schedules is that the league has made a habit of bunching its two most storied powers together on Penn State's slate. In 2021, '22, '24 and '25, the Nit- NEWS & NOTES | FULL HOUSE Among the op- ponents that will be visiting Beaver Stadium in the coming years are Vir- ginia Tech, Auburn and West Virginia. Photo by Curtis Chan