Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1543434
M A R C H 2 0 2 6 11 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Northwestern athletics director Mark Jackson said in a prepared statement, "The opener against Penn State … pro- vides us with an extraordinary stage to showcase the incredible stadium and the culture that Head Coach David Braun has established." The week before traveling to Evan- ston, the Nittany Lions will have an in- teresting Big Ten opener of their own versus Wisconsin. The Sept. 26 meeting at Beaver Stadium — which will be only the Badgers' third visit to State Col- lege since 2008 and first since 2018 — isn't a typical trap-game situation. But in terms of turnover, few programs in the conference have seen as much as coach Luke Fickell's crew. The Badgers finished 15th in On3's transfer portal rankings, which take into account in- coming and outgoing talent. Wisconsin had 23 portal losses and brought in 33 new faces. That's more newcomers than any other team on Penn State's 2026 schedule. Wisconsin figures to be a very differ- ent team this fall, which would be wel- comed in Madison after last year's 4-8 finish. While it remains to be seen how Fickell's group meshes, the win total should go up. In the transfer portal era, a new quar- terback can make all the difference. The Badgers have brought in Colton Joseph from Old Dominion. Joseph, a dual-threat signal-caller who ranked eighth in the FBS in total offense with an average of 302.6 yards per game last year, is one of three new quarterbacks Penn State will face. The others are Dylan Lonergan, who left Boston Col- lege for Rutgers, and Aidan Chiles, who headed to Northwestern after two years at Michigan State. The Wildcats have also brought in college and NFL veteran Chip Kelly to oversee their offense. The Nittany Lions are, on paper at least, set to face some pretty decent quarterback play among returning starters. Jayden Maiava is back at USC, Bryce Underwood will lead Michi- gan, Ryan Browne returns for Purdue, Demond Williams Jr. is set to start at Washington after some NIL-related drama, Drake Lindsey started all 13 games for Minnesota as a redshirt fresh- man, and Maryland's Malik Washington showed plenty of flashes as a true fresh- man. While Penn State's schedule may look advantageous on paper, that's a pretty solid list of passers that D'Anton Lynn will face in his first year as the Nittany Lions' defensive coordinator. The good news for Penn State is that USC receivers Makai Lemon and Ja'Kobi Lane are off to the pros, as is Washing- ton's Denzel Boston. In fact, the Lions will face only three returning All-Big Ten wideouts — Rutgers' KJ Duff (sec- ond team), Northwestern's Griffin Wilde (third team) and Michigan's An- drew Marsh (honorable mention). ■ Ranking Penn State's 2026 White Out Possibilities There are two imperatives that Penn State tries to follow in scheduling its annual White Out game: The Nittany Lions prefer to play it at night, and they want their prime-time showcase to be against the best opponent on the home schedule. Because the Big Ten's lucrative media-rights deal cedes control of kickoff times to the league's broadcast partners, Penn State doesn't have as much flexibility as it once did. That adds to the difficulty of predicting which game will ultimately be chosen. This year, one home game on the 2026 schedule towers above the rest as a White Out contender, but PSU doesn't always get what it wants. With that in mind, we've ranked all seven possibilities below. 7-6 Marshall (Sept. 5) and Buffalo (Sept. 19) There's a better chance of the same person winning this week's Powerball and Mega Millions lotteries than of Penn State choosing either of these nonconference games as its White Out. 5 Purdue (Oct. 31) Coming in late October after a bye week, Penn State's matchup against the Boiler- makers is a better candidate for Homecoming than for a White Out. 4 Rutgers (Nov. 21) Only once in its 22 iterations has the White Out doubled as Senior Day. That hap- pened in 2015 when the Lions lost to Michigan, 28-16, on Nov. 21. It would be very surpris- ing if the Scarlet Knights were the choice. 3 Wisconsin (Sept. 26) This will be Matt Campbell's first conference game at Penn State, which adds to the anticipation. But it also falls on the same day as Oregon's matchup against USC, which is likely to be NBC's prime-time pick. 2 Minnesota (Nov. 14) FOX is likely to snap up USC's visit to Indiana for its "Big Noon" time slot. That leaves a late-afternoon CBS opening or NBC's prime-time slot for this game. It wouldn't be a popular choice, but PSU did face Minnesota in its 2022 White Out, defeating the Golden Gophers, 45-17. 1 USC (Oct. 10) The Trojans are easily the best of the seven opponents coming to Beaver Stadium this year. It makes sense for NBC to want to showcase USC's first visit to State College since 1994, but it's far from assured that this game will take place in prime time. FOX's "Big Noon" options that week are middling (Maryland at Ohio State, Indiana at Nebraska, Michigan at Minnesota), and NBC might want UCLA's visit to Oregon for its prime-time slot. CBS could choose Penn State-USC for its 3:30 p.m. slot. It wouldn't be prime time, but a portion of the game would be played under the lights. — Greg Pickel