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Purdue has planned a “Blackout” for their game against Penn State Football

By Nick Kreiser

STATE COLLEGE, PA - OCTOBER 05: Sean Clifford #14 of the Penn State Nittany Lions gestures after running for a first down against the Purdue Boilermakers during the first half at Beaver Stadium on October 5, 2019 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
STATE COLLEGE, PA - OCTOBER 05: Sean Clifford #14 of the Penn State Nittany Lions gestures after running for a first down against the Purdue Boilermakers during the first half at Beaver Stadium on October 5, 2019 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /
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In just seven short weeks, Penn State Football will kick off their season in West Lafeyette against Purdue … and the Boilermakers have planned a Blackout theme for that Thursday night conference opener, according to their schedule.

While it’s certainly great that Purdue seems excited for this game and the atmosphere for the season opener should be good, whoever was in charge of planning the Blackout against the Nittany Lions clearly forgot what happened the last time a team tried to have a Blackout for a non-Saturday game against Penn State Football.

Our friends down in Maryland might remember that one.

The Nittany Lions ended up blacking out the Terps on the scoreboard, and the Penn State faithful put quite a damper on the attempted blackout as well.

COLLEGE PARK, MD – SEPTEMBER 27: The Maryland Terrapins play against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Maryland Stadium on September 27, 2019 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by G Fiume/Maryland Terrapins/Getty Images)
COLLEGE PARK, MD – SEPTEMBER 27: The Maryland Terrapins play against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Maryland Stadium on September 27, 2019 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by G Fiume/Maryland Terrapins/Getty Images) /

Hopefully Penn State has a similar performance this time around, one that can make most of the home team’s fans leave by halftime again.

This will be the first time that Penn State has traveled to Purdue since 2016, the game that followed the upset win over Ohio State. The Nittany Lions cruised to a 62-24 win that day in large part thanks to a 207 yard and two touchdown performance by Saquon Barkley.

Purdue is just one of three Big Ten teams that James Franklin has not lost to in his career, as he is 2-0 against the Boilermakers. The other two teams are Rutgers (8-0) and Wisconsin (3-0).

The Nittany Lions are 2-0 in regular season non-Saturday matchups (Illinois in 2018 and Maryland in 2019) under Franklin, but they are 6-2 in their season openers with both losses coming on the road (Temple in 2015 and Indiana in 2020).

Finally, Penn State is 1-1 in games that the opposing team has a blackout theme against them (Ohio State held a Blackout in 2015).

All in all, I like the Nittany Lions’ chances to come home 1-0 following a showdown against Purdue inside a blacked-out Ross-Ade Stadium, though it will be a tough win.

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