The Big Ten released the 2026 football schedules for teams in its conference at the end of January. Penn State football faces Wisconsin, Northwestern, USC, Michigan, Purdue, Washington, Minnesota, Rutgers, and Maryland for its in-conference schedule. The Nittany Lions also face Marshall, Temple, and Buffalo as their non-conference start to the season.
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On Feb. 3, Penn State announced that there is already a schedule change in the 2026 season. While its opponent remains the same, it heads to the Wildcats' home field a day earlier.
The Nittany Lions initially faced Northwestern on Saturday, Oct. 3. The teams bumped the Week 5 matchup up a day. They now meet on Friday, Oct. 2.
Friday night in the new Ryan Field📍#WeAre | https://t.co/4hG9NfE7df pic.twitter.com/bbR8XWtd9u
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) February 3, 2026
Penn State and Northwestern game moved to Oct. 2 for inaugural game at Ryan Field
Ryan Field is the Wildcats new, $862 million stadium. Penn State is the first visiting team to play in the new stadium.
Northwestern's first home games of the 2025 season, against South Dakota State and Colorado, will be played at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium. This is a smaller on-campus facility that will host those two games exclusively. Starting with the Nittany Lions, the Wildcats break in Ryan Field for the first time with their five remaining home games.
"We thought we'd wait until the Big Ten schedule was finalized to really lock in where we're going to be," Northwestern athletic director Mark Jackson said to Adam Rittenberg of ESPN. ". . . I strongly believe it'll be the nation's finest college football stadium when all is said and done. The intimacy of the stadium, the sight lines associated with it, that's the opportunity to create an unbelievable home-field advantage."
The 2026 contest will be aired on FOX or FS1. Penn State plays the Badgers at home on Sept. 26 ahead of the game at Ryan Field.
The Nittany Lions and Wildcats played each other in the 2025 season. On Oct. 11, Northwestern upset Penn State, 22-21. Former quarterback Drew Allar broke his ankle during this game, ending his collegiate career. This was also Virginia Tech head coach James Franklin's final straw, resulting in his firing the following day.