Penn State’s homecoming week has a little less sizzle on the screen than it does on the calendar.
The Nittany Lions’ Big Ten opener against Wisconsin lands on Peacock late Saturday afternoon, which means the game will be easy enough to find for existing subscribers and a little more complicated for everyone else. If you’re not already signed up, you’ll need to pay up to watch it. Earlier this week, Peacock’s website listed the cheapest monthly plan with live sports at $12.99.
That’s still cheaper than a ticket to Beaver Stadium and the cost of getting there, so there’s an argument for the math working out if you’re only buying in for one game. But plenty of fans will look at it differently, especially if they already feel like they’re paying enough for TV as it is. There are alternatives, too: Steve Jones, Jack Ham and Brian Tripp will have the radio call, and the broadcast booth will also be available on YouTube.
However you choose to take it in, this one won’t be the season’s biggest television draw.
The crowd at Beaver Stadium last week was also on the smaller side by Penn State standards. The announced attendance for the Buffalo game was 103,817, which was the lowest for a home game since 2019, when 98,895 were reported for a Nov. 30 matchup with Rutgers. Penn State listed 103,818 for FIU in 2025, and those two nonconference games now stand as the smallest home crowds over the past six seasons.
Opponent quality clearly matters, and so does the calendar. Bad weather and hunting season don’t exactly help, either.
The bigger question is whether Penn State ever decides it wants a different kind of nonconference schedule, because low-turnout games come with a real hit to gameday revenue. Then again, bigger-name opponents can bring bigger guarantees or demand return games, and that tends to push schools back toward the safer cupcake route.
The TV side of things is about to get a bump. Penn State still hasn’t landed a No. 1 broadcast team this season, but that changes in Week 6 when Noah Eagle, Todd Blackledge and Kathryn Tappen call USC’s first trip to Happy Valley for NBC.
It will be the longest Penn State has gone without a top broadcast crew in a decade. The last time it took longer was 2016, when ABC’s Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Samantha Ponder didn’t get to the Ohio State game until Week 7.
One other TV note: the ambient crowd noise treatment in college football remains overdone, and last Saturday’s LSU-Ole Miss telecast was a good reminder. After roughly the first series, ABC finally dialed back the crowd audio, which made the broadcast more usable for viewers.
That should happen more often. Fans already at the game can hear the noise.
People watching at home do not need to be blasted with it, especially when it buries the on-air talent.
A few more items stood out around the conference and Penn State’s broadcast orbit:
ESPN Radio’s College Football Campus Tour will be in Happy Valley this weekend, with Jonathan Zaslow and Amber Wilson broadcasting live for at least two hours before kickoff. The show will air nationally across most ESPN Radio stations, SiriusXM Channel 80, the ESPN App and ESPN streaming platforms.
BTN play-by-play voice Chris Vosters mentioned the Penn State Dance Marathon twice during last week’s game, tied to the THON theme, but got the length of the 46-hour event wrong both times. He said 40 hours once and 48 the other time.
Big Ten teams went 12-2 in nonconference games last week, winning by an average of 51-7. The only league teams to face real resistance, Maryland and Michigan State, lost to Virginia Tech and Notre Dame, respectively.
And longtime TV analyst and former Penn State All-American Matt Millen reached way back to compare Penn State running back Carson Hansen to Ed Podolak, the Iowa and Kansas City Chiefs back who played from 1969 to 1977. As Millen put it, "you have to go back a bit" for that reference.
In Other News...
Penn State Gets A Timely Boost Before Its Wisconsin Test
Armstrong Nnodim gave Penn State a welcome depth boost against Buffalo after missing the first two weeks of the season with an injury. The transfer defensive tackle was back in the mix and finished with two tackles, a small but meaningful sign for a front that has been leaning on its rotation early in the year.
Nnodim said the return brought a sense of relief, along with renewed motivation after getting support from coaches, teammates and family during the setback. For Penn State, getting him and other injured linemen back matters as the schedule tightens, especially with Wisconsin next and the need to keep the defensive tackle group fresh and effective. [Read more 🡒]
Penn States Early 2027 Defensive Commits Are Turning Heads
Penn States 2027 recruiting class is already taking shape on the defensive side, and the early additions say plenty about the kind of foundation the staff wants to build. Defensive tackle Aniti Paiva, a 6-foot-2, 315-pound lineman from Skyline High School in Utah, has given the Nittany Lions a big body for the middle, while safety Caleb Cooper of Providence Day School in North Carolina brings size and versatility to the back end. Both players were recruited by position coaches who have made a point of getting involved early, with Ikaika Malloe leading the push for Paiva and Deon Broomfield handling Cooper.
Coopers commitment is especially notable because he joined the class after being added in June, giving Penn State another defensive piece before the group has even fully taken shape. Paiva, meanwhile, arrives with multiple offers already on the table, which makes his pledge a useful early win for a program that has long sold itself on developing defense. The bigger question now is how the staff keeps this momentum going as the 2027 board expands. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Faces One Big Test As Wisconsin Comes To Beaver Stadium
Penn State heads into its Week 4 Big Ten matchup with Wisconsin at Beaver Stadium still trying to sort out its rotation while injuries chip away at both sides of the ball. Max Granville and Koby Howard are part of the conversation as the Nittany Lions work through the early-season bumps, and the focus now shifts to how they can keep the game on their terms in front of a home crowd.
A big piece of that will be slowing Wisconsins Colton Joseph on the ground and forcing the Badgers to work for every yard. On the other side, James Peoples could carry more of the backfield load, Yvan Kemajou may get a chance to make noise as a pass rusher, and Zay Robinson looks like the kind of receiver who could be asked to step into a bigger role if the passing game needs a steady target. [Read more 🡒]