Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1528325
dramatic lighting being a big part of the show. One certainty is that there will be plenty of purple-clad Washington fans wandering around State College in the days leading up to the game, taking ad- vantage of the opportunity to visit a new campus. The Big Ten's four new West Coast teams are largely unfamiliar to Penn State, and the Lions have even less shared history with the Huskies than they do with USC, UCLA and Oregon. The two teams have played only three times since their first meeting in 1921 in Seattle, and Washington is the only cur- rent Big Ten team that has never played in Beaver Stadium. 'As Good As It Gets' There also figure to be a few neutral fans in the stadium on game day. The White Out has become not just a big event for the Nittany Lions but one of the highlights of the college football season nationally. It's the kind of game that even fans with no ties to the university want to experience, just to be part of a sensa- tion that Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi once described as being "like a new type of loud, almost like jet engine loud." When the White Out returned follow- ing the COVID year with a nonconference matchup against Auburn in 2021, coach James Franklin noted that the game has become a universal phenomenon. "If you're a sports fan, you need to have a White Out on your bucket list," he said. "It's something I think everybody should experience. For the fans that are com- ing for the first time, I hope you enjoy it. I've been doing this for a long time, and in pretty much every major conference, including the NFL, and this is as good as it gets. "The impact and the electricity that it provides to our town and for our state and for the hotels and restaurants and bars and local economy, for our students and for our campus and community is special." While the game serves as a four-hour advertisement for college football as an institution, the highest priority for Frank- lin is to summon up an environment that makes it difficult for the opponent to function on offense. Back in 2021, when there were still questions about whether live sporting events would fully bounce back after the pandemic, Franklin urged PSU supporters prior to Auburn's visit to fill all 106,572 seats in the house and to not sit there passively. "I am willing to buy throat lozenges on Sunday for the entire fan base if that means that we have the most challenging environment in all of sports," he said. "I'm willing to buy Halls for everybody that loses their voice on Saturday." If that offer still stands, there will prob- ably be some takers on Nov. 10. ■ Date Opponent Result Oct. 9, 2004 No. 9 Purdue L, 20-13 Oct. 8, 2005 No. 6 Ohio State W, 17-10 Oct. 14, 2006 No. 4 Michigan L, 17-10 Sept. 8, 2007 Notre Dame W, 31-10 Sept. 27, 2008 No. 22 Illinois W, 38-24 Sept. 26, 2009 Iowa L, 21-10 Oct. 30, 2010 Michigan W, 41-31 Sept. 10, 2011 No. 3 Alabama L, 27-11 Oct. 27, 2012 No. 9 Ohio State L, 35-23 Oct. 12, 2013 No. 18 Michigan W, 43-40 (4OT) Date Opponent Result Oct. 25, 2014 No. 13 Ohio State L, 31-24 (2OT) Nov. 21, 2015 No. 14 Michigan L, 28-16 Oct. 22, 2016 No. 2 Ohio State W, 24-21 Oct. 21, 2017 No. 19 Michigan W, 42-13 Sept. 29, 2018 No. 4 Ohio State L, 27-26 Oct. 19, 2019 No. 16 Michigan W, 28-21 Sept. 18, 2021 No. 22 Auburn W, 28-20 Oct. 22, 2022 Minnesota W, 45-17 Sept. 23, 2023 No. 24 Iowa W, 31-0 Nov. 9, 2024 Washington Penn State's White Out Games Marcus Allen blocked a late field goal attempt against Ohio State in 2016, set- ting in motion one of the most momentous plays in recent Penn State history. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL