White Out vs Washington to kickoff at 3:30 or 7:30 pm

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa (WTAJ) — A week ago Penn State made the long awaited announcement that the White Out will be on November 9 against Washington. The announcement comes much later than in the previous years due to complications with the television networks. The network for this years White Out is unknown right now, however Penn State has received a guarantee that it will be a 3:30 pm or 7:30 pm kickoff.

Speaking at Big Ten Media Day, athletic director Pat Kraft said it was a long process working with the conference and television networks to find a solution to try and get the Greatest Show In College Sports to not be a noon kickoff.

“We worked with FOX to not take the Washington game at noon,” Kraft said. “So we don’t know yet if it’s going to be a 3:30 kick or a 7:30 kick. That is not yet determined either. That will go to the traditional 12-day window, or if it gets shrunk to six. So yeah, but we had to get something out as our fans know.”

The November 2 showdown with Ohio State was one of the popular picks among fans for the White Out, however Fox has the the first pick that week and could make it a noon kickoff and they won’t have to make a decision until 12 days prior over what game they want that week for Big Noon Kickoff.

“We don’t land on any game,” Kraft said. “I think you all know what we would choose if were going to choose a White Out game. This year became a little more difficult because of the three networks and the ‘draft’ process.”

Making Ohio State the White Out would risk it being at noon, which something Penn State wants to avoid for the annual White Out. The past two years the Nittany Lions have chosen lesser opponents so the game could be in primetime where in both of those seasons the game against Ohio State or Michigan was a noon kickoff on Fox.

“Minnesota and Iowa were great atmosphere’s and so, yes the opponent would be great, but the night piece is critical,” said Kraft.

This will be just the second White Out to take place in November joining the Michigan game in 2015, which was a noon kickoff. Kraft says after working with the Big Ten and the networks over this will make the process easier for getting a premiere opponent at night for the White Out.

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