Penn State Football: first reaction to the release of the 2023 schedule

On Wednesday, the Big Ten officially released the updated schedule for the 2023 football season.

We already had the non-conference slate for Penn State Football next season, which includes opening the season at home against West Virginia, followed then by staying home to take on the Delaware Blue Hens in week two.

The third and final non-conference game in 2023 comes much later in the year than normal. The Nittany Lions were originally scheduled to take on the UMass Minutemen on November 11th, but that game has now been moved up to October 14th.

What we didn’t know prior to today was the conference schedule. So, let’s take a look at it.

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The first takeaway that many folks had was that for the seventh consecutive season, Penn State Football will open up conference play on the road. This time, they’ll get the Illinois Fighting Illini in a revenge game against a team that could potentially be the defending Big Ten West champions next season.

The Nittany Lions will get all of their divisional crossover games out the way early, as that trip to Champagne is followed by another revenge game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at home, followed by Penn State’s first trip to Northwestern since 2017.

Following a bye week is that UMass matchup that was previously discussed. This is an opportunity for James Franklin to pick up an easy win out of a bye week: something he’s struggled with in his career in Happy Valley.

That game will serve as a ‘tune-up’ game for the Nittany Lions as they then hit the road for what could potentially be an undefeated showdown against Ohio State in Columbus. The Ohio State matchup–along with the Michigan matchup–are two games that fans circle on their calendar each and every year. Those two games will again take place within a few weeks of each other, with games against Indiana and (at) Maryland sandwiched in between.

They finish their regular season with a home game against Rutgers, followed by a trip to East Lansing to take on Sparty for the Land-Grant Trophy. What are the chances of inclement weather in that one? If recent history is any indication, I’d say pretty good.

Another big question that everyone asks in regard to the schedule each season: which game will be the White Out?

Michigan seems like the easy choice in theory, but that game takes place in November. The Big Ten does not schedule night games in November due to weather/low temperatures. That would be a good choice for the Stripe Out instead.

The next best options would be West Virginia or Iowa. It would be good to have a White Out against a non-conference Power Five team like they did against Auburn in 2021, but is a week one White Out really a good idea? Not only would it not be dark at the start of the game, but that eliminates any anticipation for that game as it takes place right off the bat in week one.

Iowa seems like it’s probably the safest bet for the 2023 White Out, though that’s a decision that doesn’t have to be made anytime soon. After all, we’re less than a week removed from this year’s White Out.

The other question is Homecoming. There are just two home games in the month of October next season, only one of which is a conference opponent: Indiana. If I had to guess, that would be next year’s Homecoming weekend.

There’s still plenty of football to be played in 2022, but as fans, we can afford to look ahead a little to next season–especially when it comes to making travel plans.

Things will get a whole lot more interesting whenever the 2024 schedule is released, as that will be the debut season for USC and UCLA in the Big Ten.