Penn State Football Set for Annual White Out

Story posted October 19, 2019 in CommRadio, News by Sam Marks

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State takes on the Michigan Wolverines in the school’s annual White Out game, this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Beaver Stadium, broadcasted live by ABC.

The two prestigious football programs have a long history with each other dating back to 1993, shortly after Penn State joined the Big Ten conference. Since then, the teams have played 22 games against each other, with Michigan leading the all-time series 14-8.

Penn State looks to avenge its 2018 loss to the Wolverines in Saturday’s 12th full-stadium whiteout. Despite losing to Michigan in a 42-7 blowout last year, Penn state students are feeling confident.

Conner Dunleavy, a senior majoring in supply chain management, believes that it will be a lopsided game.

“I think that it’s going to be really tough for a weak Michigan team, especially with a weak offense to come into Beaver Stadium, with a White Out atmosphere, at night,” Dunleavy said. “I really don’t see them having any success at all against our defense who has played very well against big teams, like Iowa. I really think it is going to be a blowout.”

A large part of student confidence for this weekend’s matchup comes from the atmosphere that the White Out brings with it. Full-stadium whiteouts started in 2007 against Notre Dame and have become a spectacle to attend. Since then, Penn State has always scheduled the White Out for the biggest home game of the year. Over 100,000 fans, all wearing white, pack into Beaver Stadium, completely fired up. With such a huge crowd coming together united under one cause, the White Out creates an overwhelming, electric and intimidating environment for opposing teams.

Dan Kitchen, a senior majoring in animal science, explains the feeling of being a part of the White Out crowd.

“The White Out is the best atmosphere in all of college football, and you walk in that stadium—everyone is there, everybody’s up on their feet screaming and yelling, and no one’s sitting down eating nachos or eating chicken baskets,” Kitchen said. “They’re all out there standing and cheering on Penn State.”

The White Out brings Penn State fans together like no other event. The past two have set attendance records for Beaver Stadium. 110,823 fans packed into Beaver Stadium in 2017, setting a new record that would be broken in 2018 with a White Out attendance of 110,889.

 

Sam Marks is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email sdm5544@psu.edu.