After months of speculation, it’s official: This year’s Penn State-Iowa game at Beaver Stadium will be the school’s annual White Out extravaganza, Penn State tweeted Monday afternoon.
See you in Happy Valley 📍🦁 pic.twitter.com/a6hX8JuOXF
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) May 15, 2023
The game, which was scheduled for Sept. 23 last fall, is scheduled to kickoff at 8 p.m. on CBS, a station that will carry Big Ten football starting this season.
CBS Sports to present Iowa-Penn State in Primetime on Saturday, Sept. 23 for Penn State’s annual “White Out” Game.https://t.co/qeP8HI6O7Y pic.twitter.com/LBY7MKKUgE
— CBS Sports PR (@CBSSportsGang) May 15, 2023
When it became apparent that Penn State’s season opener against West Virginia at Beaver Stadium Sept. 2 would be a scheduled 7:30 kick on NBC, speculation ramped up that WVU could be Penn State’s White Out game for 2023.
Instead, WVU will be the school’s helmet stripe game, and Iowa is the White Out.
Although Iowa isn’t Penn State’s most prominent home Big Ten date— that would be Michigan Nov. 11– having Iowa as the White Out game means that the school will keep its tradition of having the White Out at night. The common thought is that the Michigan game will be on Fox as that week’s “Big Noon Saturday” matchup. Although Iowa might not be a rivalry game— or might be, depending on who you ask— the two schools have history. Most recently, Iowa and its coach, Kirk Ferentz, did a lot to anger Penn State fans after the team’s met in Iowa City two autumns ago. Not only did No. 3 Iowa come back from a 17-3 deficit to beat No. 4 Penn State, 23-20, it was apparent that Iowa fans booed multiple injured Penn State players.
Days after the game, Ferentz added fuel to the fire by sympathizing with the fans, saying they “thought they smelled a rat.”
Here’s the a full list of Penn State’s 2023 themes.
Sept 2 vs. West Virginia: Helmet stripe game
Sept. 9 vs. Delaware: Spirit day THON
Sept. 23 vs. Iowa: White out
Oct. 14. vs. UMass: Homecoming
Oct. 28 vs. Indiana: Military Appreciation
Nov. 11 vs. Michigan: Stripe out
Nov. 18. vs. Rutgers: Senior Day
