Blue White Illustrated

P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> The Penn State football team aver- aged 106,707 fans per game in the 2017 season to rank third in the NCAA in attendance. The increase of 6,450 fans per game ranked fifth in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Penn State's average attendance was the highest for the program since 2008, when the Nittany Lions had 108,254 fans come through gates on average. The No. 3 national ranking is the highest since the 2010 season when Penn State also finished third in the FBS with an average home atten- dance of 104,234. Additionally, the increase of 6,450 fans per game was the highest since a 10,642 average jump in 2001 when the stadium capacity increased by more than 12,000 seats to 107,282. Those numbers bucked a national trend of declining attendance. Across the FBS, attendance shrank by 1,409 fans per game this past season. The 2017 season featured the largest home crowd in Penn State history, as a record-breaking 110,823 fans filled the stadium on Oct. 21 for a 42-13 victory over Michigan. The Nittany Lions' fans have been difference-makers throughout the past two seasons, as Penn State posted back-to-back undefeated home sea- sons for the first time since 1985 and '86. Among the recent wins at Beaver Stadium were a pair of Top 25 victories over No. 2 Ohio State in 2016 and No. 19 Michigan this past year. "Penn State has the nation's most passionate and enthusiastic fans, and the game day experience in and around Beaver Stadium is unrivaled," deputy athletic director Phil Esten said. "Penn State football is resisting national trends due to our great alumni and fans and the unified col- laboration between numerous units within Penn State Athletics." The Nittany Lions ended the 2017 season with an 11-2 record following a 35-28 victory over No. 11 Washington in the Fiesta Bowl. Penn State was ranked No. 8 in both season-ending polls, the first time since 2008 and '09 that it enjoyed top-10 finishes in con- secutive years. In addi- tion, the Lions were No. 9 in the final College Foot- ball Playoff rankings. The 11-win season was the 16th in Penn State history and seventh since joining the Big Ten. ■ Nittany Lions rank third nationally in attendance FULL HOUSE The average atten- dance for Penn State's seven home games last season was 106,707, an in- crease of more than 6,000 from 2016. Photo cour- tesy of Penn State Athletics Blue-White Game set to kick off at 3 p.m. Penn State's spring practices will culminate in the Blue-White Game at 3 p.m. April 21 in Beaver Sta- dium. The game will air live on the Big Ten Network, Penn State Sports Network and GoPSUsports.com. Additional details on Blue-White Weekend will be announced in the coming weeks. ■ Sean Hamilton, Juwan Johnson, Mike Gesicki, the list goes on. Even role play- ers like Saeed Blacknall have had star turns in big games. But if they're going to change the outcome of games like last year's visit to Ohio State – or the 2017 Rose Bowl, to cite its most obvious an- tecedent – they're going to need to hold their own at the line of scrimmage, es- pecially in the fourth quarter, when evenly matched games are typically de- cided. They've done that at times over the past two seasons, even against talented defenses such as Michigan's and Wash- ington's. But Ohio State is the opponent that matters most. If you've got your eye on conference and national champi- onships, you've got to build the kind of team that can beat the Buckeyes. A team that can beat the Buckeyes is a team that

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