Penn State announced the kickoff times of five games for the 2019 season, including ones for the series finale against rival Pittsburgh, the Friday-night clash with Maryland and the homecoming tilt against Purdue.
The Nittany Lions’ season opener against Idaho on Aug. 31 will kick off at 3:30 p.m. and air on the Big Ten Network.
FOX will broadcast live in primetime from Beaver Stadium the following week, Sept. 7, when the Nittany Lions host Buffalo at 7:30 p.m.
ABC will have the Pitt game at noon on Sept. 14, and the Nittany Lions will travel to Maryland on Friday, Sept. 27, for an 8 p.m. kick on FS1.
Finally, the Purdue game on Oct. 5 will kick at noon and will be an ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 broadcast.
So, the Nittany Lions are once again going to be all over the clock in the first part of the season, with two noon kicks, a pair of primetime affairs and a 3:30 mixed in. It promises to be a bit of a theme throughout the season, too, because pretty much all of the remaining October games (at Iowa, the Whiteout game vs. Michigan and at Michigan State) are potential later-in-the-day kicks. Not to mention, the Nittany Lions travel to Columbus to play Ohio State on Nov. 23, which almost certainly won’t kick before 3:30.
For way-down-the-road planning purposes, the 2020 Blue-White Game has a date: April 18. It’s looking at, as always, an early to mid-afternoon kick.
Donnie Collins has been a member of The Times-Tribune sports staff for nearly 20 years and has been the Penn State football beat writer for Times-Shamrock Newspapers since 2004. The Penn State Football Blog covers Nittany Lions, Big Ten and big-time college football news from Beaver Stadium to the practice field, the bowl game to National Letter of Intent Signing Day. Contact: dcollins@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5368; @DonnieCollinsTT
