Nobody was expecting Penn State football’s Week 3 game against Buffalo to break any attendance records, and it didn’t.
Big Day on the Ground Propells Penn State in Laugher Over Buffalo
Per a report by Steve Sampsell, Penn State’s non-conference finale was the lowest attended game in Beaver Stadium since Nov. 2019, not counting the 2020 season where there were no fans.
Granted, Penn State still had an official attendance of 103,817, which is more than most stadiums can even hold.
At the same time, people who have complained about Penn State’s “soft” out of conference scheduling will point to this as evidence that the program should challenge itself more before Big Ten play. Former PSU coach James Franklin had no problem scheduling light in OOC, and never failed to admit that when asked about the topic.
In 2016, Penn State played Pitt in the non conference season while Washington played Portland State.
Despite winning the Big Ten, Penn State lost to Pitt, and Pac-12 champ Washington beat Portland State.
Guess which team ended up going to the College Football Playoff?
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Now, times have changed in the past decade.
The playoff accepts 12 teams compared to four, and that number will be at 24 soon enough. The bigger the playoff is, the less reason there would be to schedule “cupcakes” in early September.
With this said, we still don’t know what Matt Campbell’s scheduling process will be, with all of Penn State’s OOC dates booked through 2028 and Campbell not having a hand in those opponents.
As of last week, he isn’t too worried about it yet, saying he hasn’t discussed it with athletic director Pat Kraft.
“I’m probably not even at the place to even conversate about it because I don’t know if I have my grasp around my own team and program, let alone what is that holistic value, how does that go,” Campbell said at his weekly press conference Sept. 15.
I think as the world changes around us, do we go to a 24-team Playoff. What does all that look like? What’s best for Penn State moving forward? What’s best for our football program?”
