Penn State footballs 2024 schedule: A brutal October and 4 other thoughts

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — There’s no more guessing about Penn State’s 2024 football schedule. Thursday afternoon, the Big Ten announced the dates to go along with the previously announced opponents.

As usual, TV designations and start times will come closer to the season. At a later date, the conference will announce games that will be played Friday and those slated for Labor Day weekend.

Penn State’s 2024 schedule

Here’s what stands out about the schedule:

Opening conference play at home

Penn State begins conference play Sept. 28 against Illinois in Beaver Stadium. It might seem like a trivial detail, but for a Penn State program that opened conference play on the road in each of the past eight seasons, surely a home conference opener will sit a little better. The 2023 season marked the 13th time in the past 14 seasons the Nittany Lions began conference play on the road.

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Coach James Franklin and athletic director Pat Kraft have been less than thrilled about how the schedule makers continually have put the Nittany Lions on the road. Kraft addressed it with the conference shortly after he was hired in 2022 only to learn the schedule for the next year — with Penn State opening on the road again — already was set. Franklin joked this fall that it’s a “tradition” to have Penn State open Big Ten play on the road. But in 2024, Penn State gets its first two conference games at home: vs. UCLA on Oct. 5.

The USC trip is set

Penn State’s longest trip of the season comes in October when the Nittany Lions play at USC. The good news is an idle week follows the game. During the schedule reveal on Big Ten Network, chief operating officer Kerry Kenny said the conference wanted to make sure all teams in the Eastern or Central time zones either would have an idle week or a home game after a West Coast trip. A conference that spans multiple time zones has had many people behind the scenes thinking about whether teams will need to adjust sleep schedules and how early they’ll need to travel to some of these games. Concerns about whom teams play after these trips have been a constant theme ever since the conference expanded to the West Coast.

Now, Penn State won’t always have an idle week after every cross-country trip in the future, but the conference was able to do it this year. Penn State will need the breather too because after the idle week, the Nittany Lions play Ohio State, Washington and Wisconsin in consecutive weeks.

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Big Ten sets schedule for 2024 football season

Two idle weeks

The way the calendar aligns, there will be two stress-free Saturdays as Sept. 14 and Oct. 19 are idle weeks for the Nittany Lions. Given what’s to come after the USC game, surely two sets of off weekends will be a welcome sight.

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Who is the White Out foe?

Take your pick among UCLA on Oct. 5, Ohio State on Nov. 2 and Washington on Nov. 9.  Yes, this means I’m ruling out White Out games against Illinois (Sept. 28) and Maryland (Nov. 30). Of course, TV designations likely will have a hand in determining whether the White Out syncs up with a night game or whether Penn State leans into a marquee opponent for a noon game and decides to make that one a White Out.

Retraining the brain

If Penn State goes 10-2 this season, surely many fans will be angry. But with the 18-team conference in 2024 comes the expanded College Football Playoff field.

Forget about playing UMass in October like Penn State did this year. Instead, the 2024 Penn State schedule includes a remarkably difficult stretch of games against UCLA, USC, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Washington all from Oct. 5 to Nov. 9. What a competitive and chaotic month that will be.

Admittedly, it’s jarring to see this. But it’s also exciting to think about some of these matchups and venues that college football fans have dreamed about seeing beyond bowl season. One loss won’t ruin a team’s season. Two losses against talented teams won’t spell disaster either thanks to the Playoff’s 12-team field.

It’s going to take a little time to wrap our minds around this, but it’s probably going to be more entertaining to see Penn State play some of these opponents, too.

(Photo of James Franklin: Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)

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