The Penn State football team announced Wednesday that its annual White Out game will take place on Oct. 22 when they host the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
The trip to Happy Valley was going to be one of the more difficult games on Minnesota’s schedule as they haven’t won there since 2003, but the addition of Penn State’s biggest tradition makes this a taller task.
Penn State began holding the event in 2004 as a marketing idea to draw more students to Beaver Stadium. Since then, it has transformed into one of the greatest atmospheres in college football, with over 110,000 people dressed in white and reaching sound pressure levels of 122 decibels – enough to cause damage to the human ear drum.
Overall, Penn State holds a 9-8 record in White Out games, including a 28-20 victory over Auburn last season but primarily has hosted Michigan (six times) and Ohio State (five times) for the game.
When the White Out game was played in an empty stadium in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer estimated that Penn State lost a 10-point advantage without its boisterous crowd.
Meyer knows from experience as the Buckeyes have been the visiting team for the White Out in each of their past four trips to Happy Valley dating back to 2012.
So why did the Gophers get the short straw? It’s all about the schedule.
According to All Penn State’s Mark Wogenrich, FOX owns the rights to the Oct. 29 matchup between the Nittany Lions and the Buckeyes. FOX prefers to broadcast their biggest matchups in the “Big Noon” (11 a.m.) time slot and with the White Out being a nighttime event, the Gophers became a logical opponent.
That’s bittersweet news for Gopher fans, who will see their team play in a difficult environment but also have a chance to cross an item off their bucket list.
