UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa (WTAJ) -- Penn State's "White Out" is regarded as the "Greatest Show In College Sports." Despite the schedule being released already, fans are left reeling and wondering what game it will fall on after the college football schedule is released.
With the game themes announced in May the past couple years, the White Out game opponent hasn't been announced yet.
There are many variables as to why Penn State has waited so long. The most notable one is the new television deal with Fox, who is the primary television network, and the emergence of ratings giant "Big Noon Kickoff."
In totality, Penn State has hosted 15 White Outs. 13 of those kicked off in primetime and only one of those was at noon, which was against Michigan in late Nov. 2015. Fans who were in attendance have mentioned on social media that it wasn't the same as if it was at night.
In 2022, Penn State football held a poll for fans about the most important factor for the White Out and the overwhelming winner was the game being at night. That led to the White Out in 2022 and 2023 being against Minnesota and Iowa rather than against Ohio State and Michigan, which were both noon kickoffs on Fox.
In years past, the White Out was almost always a primetime kickoff against the toughest opponent on the schedule. Since Fox took over as the biggest television partner of the Big Ten, most of the top games in the conference have been at noon.
In the other prime slots in the agreement, CBS holds the 3:30 p.m. spot, while NBC holds the main primetime spot with Big Ten Saturday Night at 7:30 p.m.
As part of the television rights agreement, Fox gets the first three picks in the draft every year among them, CBS, and NBC. When the networks are drafting, they are drafting when they will get to pick each week, not an actual game at the time of the pick.
For games later in the year, the networks don't have to announce what they are doing with their respective picks until 6 or 12 days before the game.
Fox has already announced that they have the first pick for Saturday November 2, which is the week that Penn State hosts Ohio State and Michigan hosts Oregon. Fox President of Insight and Analytics Michael Mulvihill said on The Joel Klatt Show that they won't decide until 12 days prior which game they will take for Big Noon Kickoff. It is unknown which network has the next pick that week.
The unknown surrounding the Ohio State game adds to the dilemma Penn State faces when trying to select which game will be the White Out. On Thursday, Penn State head coach James Franklin discussed the complications they are currently facing.
"If we want to provide the opponent the experience, the time of day that our fan base wants and expects that there's a lot of pushing and pulling and compromising and working with the conference and working with the TV partners to try to find a win-win for everybody," said Franklin.
That brings us to the big question. Who should the White Out be against?
Here are the three most likely games based on information that is currently public:
September 28th vs Illinois: Kickoff at 3:30 pm, 4:00 p.m. or 7:30 pm
The White Out against Iowa last year was at the end of September so this could make for some great weather. It has been announced that this game will be a late afternoon or primetime kickoff.
Brett McMurphy of Action Network leaked that this game is NBC's preferred primetime game for for their 7:30 p.m. slot that week making this game Penn State's only known home game to most likely be at night. Penn State could play it safe here and make sure the White Out is in primetime.
October 5 vs UCLA: Kickoff TBA
Not much is known about this week across the Big Ten. This would be a great way to welcome one of the Big Ten's four new members to the conference if they get a primetime kickoff. A game in early October also would have great weather and they wouldn't have to worry about fans bundling up in cooler weather like they would in November.
According to McMurphy, NBC's preferred primetime game this week is Michigan at Washington.
November 2 vs Ohio State: Kickoff TBD
As mentioned earlier, Fox announced they have the first pick this week and they won't make a decision until 12 days prior for which game they want for Big Noon Kickoff between Ohio State at Penn State or Oregon at Michigan.
In McMurphy's report he said NBC's preferred game in primetime this week is USC at Washington which could hint that CBS has the second pick that week after Fox and they would pick whichever game Fox passes on.
If Penn State chooses Ohio State they run the risk of having the White Out being at noon should Fox pick that game, which could eliminate a lot of the acoustics and the sea of white surrounded by a dark sky and the fireworks.
In a perfect world, Ohio State in primetime would be the best-case scenario for the White Out. However, that might be wishful thinking unless Penn State is able to work out something with the television networks as Franklin alluded that they are trying to do.
"I got a pretty good idea where I think it's trending, but I don't know that yet," Franklin said. "The worst thing I could do is say one thing to you guys and then it changes or even by saying it to you guys, it impacts the chance of that happening by pissing some people off."
A decision should be announced in the coming weeks because Franklin said it has a major impact on other things and programs around Penn State.
"The challenge with that is we get pressure across across the campus as well, because all the other things we kind of got to wait for this one," said Franklin. "All the other themes come from (the White Out being announced) and those other themes impacted a bunch of different departments."
For right now, it's a wait and see game to see who gets the White Out treatment this year.