Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1545007
1 0 J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 2 6 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M P enn State's 2026 football schedule has been known since January, but now some of the key details are being filled in. For starters, homecoming will take place on the weekend of the Wisconsin game. The Nittany Lions will welcome the Badgers on Sept. 26, with the kickoff time yet to be determined as of mid- May. It will be the earliest homecoming game in Penn State history and only the fourth September homecoming since the annual tradition began in 1920. Up until this year, PSU's ear- liest homecoming was a Sept. 27 clash with Northwestern in 2014, a game that Penn State lost, 29-6. Of the 105 home- coming games that Penn State has played to date, 94 have taken place in October and eight in November. The Nittany Lions have gone 75-25-5 on homecoming week- end. They were on a three-game homecoming winning streak heading into last year's meeting with North- western on Oct. 11, with victories over Minnesota, Massachusetts and Illi- nois, but the game against the Wildcats proved disastrous for multiple reasons. Not only did the Nittany Lions fall, 22- 21, on a late touchdown drive by the vis- itors, they also lost starting quarterback Drew Allar to a season-ending ankle in- jury. And the following day, they lost their head coach, with athletics direc- tor Patrick Kraft firing James Franklin in the wake of a defeat that effectively ended any chance of reaching the Col- lege Football Playoff. The Nittany Lions have fared much better against Wisconsin than against Northwestern in recent years. They have won six in a row against the Bad- gers, a streak that dates back to 2012 and includes a 38-31 comeback victory in the Big Ten Championship Game in 2016. Wisconsin has been an infrequent visitor to Beaver Stadium in recent de- cades. Since 2006, the Badgers have been to State College only three times, all Penn State wins. The last time Wis- consin won on PSU's home turf was in 2003, when it overcame a 379-yard passing performance by Michael Rob- inson in a 30-23 victory. While Penn State's homecoming date has been locked down, the White Out game was still uncertain as of mid-May. The Nittany Lions hadn't received their Saturday kickoff assignments from the Big Ten's broadcast partners, and since the team always wants to play that game at night — or at least at dusk — there was still some uncertainty as to which game would be chosen. Howeve r, so m e c l u e s m ay h ave emerged on May 11 with the announce- ment of Notre Dame's broadcast sched- ule. NBC is slated to air the Irish's Oct. 10 game against Stanford at 3:30 p.m. The late-afternoon kickoff for that game means NBC's prime-time window is open that day. Could we see a "Big Ten Saturday Night" clash between Penn State and USC? It would make sense. Coach Lincoln Riley's Trojans are get- NEWS & NOTES Penn State's 2026 Schedule Continues To Take Shape G R E G P I C K E L | G R E G . P I C K E L @ O N 3 . C O M Miles Sanders rushed for 159 yards the last time Wisconsin visited Beaver Stadium in November 2018. The Badgers will be Penn State's homecoming opponent this year when they face the Lions on Sept. 26. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL