On Wednesday, the Big Ten revealed kickoff times and TV network designations for the first three games of Penn State’s season. The Nittany Lions have favored a soft non-conference schedule in recent years, and for the first season of the Matt Campbell era in Happy Valley, that means no early-season night games.
Penn State’s first primetime opportunity will come on the road in Evanston, Illinois, in a previously announced matchup with Northwestern scheduled for 8:00 p.m. ET on Friday, October 2. So far, that’s the only primetime game on Penn State’s 2026 slate after the Big Ten also announced that the homecoming game against Wisconsin on September 26 would kick off no later than 5:00 p.m. ET.
Kickoff times for Penn State’s 2026 non-conference slate
- Week 1: vs. Marshall, 3:30 p.m. ET (Beaver Stadium)
- Week 2: at Temple, Noon ET (Lincoln Financial Field)
- Week 3: vs. Buffalo, Noon ET (Beaver Stadium)
Last season, Penn State opted to play three non-conference home games, two against Group of Six opponents (Nevada and FIU) and one against an FCS foe (Villanova). They rolled to three resounding wins, even if the play on the field wasn’t particularly dominant. Like the 2026 season, none were played in primetime. In that case, it was two 3:30 p.m. ET kicks against Nevada in Week 1 and Villanova in Week 3, and one Noon kick against FIU in Week 2.
After two seasons without an FBS non-conference opponent on the schedule, a formula that Michigan, Ohio State, and Indiana have ridden to national championships in successive years, Penn State has Syracuse on the schedule in 2027. That matchup with a longtime program rival has the potential to earn primetime billing, and could be the type of draw that a Week 1 game against Marshall, even with it being Matt Campbell’s first game as the head coach in Happy Valley, just isn’t.
Penn State is bound to have more primetime games on the schedule and will need one for its White Out. The most obvious White Out candidate is Week 6, when Penn State hosts USC. FOX can complicate matters with its Big Noon Kickoff, and if USC isn’t the White Out, the other options are Purdue, Minnesota, and Rutgers, because the Big Ten has already announced that the Wisconsin game will kick off “no later than 5 p.m.”
The other likely primetime opportunities are at Michigan in Week 7, and at Washington in Week 10, which has the potential to be a very late start if it's an 8 p.m. PT kickoff in Seattle.
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