UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State’s Big Ten Conference opener at Illinois will kick at noon ET/11 a.m. CT on Saturday, Sept. 29. ESPN or ESPN2 will televise the contest to a national audience from Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill., with a determination made after this week’s games.
The Penn State Sports Network and www.GoPSUsports.com will begin coverage of the Penn State-Illinois game at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Penn State and Illinois will be meeting for the 20th time and have played every season since 2005.
The Nittany Lions are starting their 20th season of Big Ten competition and second year as members of the Leaders Division with Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Purdue and Wisconsin. Penn State will be opening conference play on the road for the third consecutive year and 12th time overall and also will open the 2013 conference slate at Indiana.
The announcement of the Illinois kick brings the total of known Penn State start times to eight for this season. The Penn State-Temple game on Saturday, Sept. 22 will kick at 3:30 p.m. in Beaver Stadium and be an ABC regional telecast that will air on ESPN2 outside the ABC coverage area. The Nittany Lions and Owls will be meeting for the seventh consecutive year and 42nd time overall.
The Penn State-Temple game will feature multiple events, including a reunion of Penn State’s 1982 National Championship team and All-University Day. All fans are encouraged to wear blue for a Blue Out in Beaver Stadium, with donations being collected to benefit the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape (PCAR). Follow @BlueOut on Twitter for more information.
The other known kick times for Coach Bill O’Brien’s Nittany Lions are:
– Oct. 6 Homecoming game vs. Northwestern (12 p.m., TV TBD)
– Oct. 20 at Iowa (7 p.m. CT, BTN) and
– Oct. 27 Penn State White Out vs. Ohio State (6 p.m., ESPN/2).
Penn State has played on TV in 219 of its last 221 games, including national appearances on ESPN (Ohio), ABC (Virginia) and ABC/ESPN (Navy) to begin this season.
Additional Penn State kick times will be announced as part of the Big Ten’s 6/12-day selection process with its TV partners.
The Nittany Lions are coming off a decisive 34-7 win over Navy last Saturday for O’Brien’s first career victory.
Penn State football season and single tickets are available. Ticket purchases and information is available at www.GoPSUsports.com/tickets or fans can call Penn State athletics Customer Relations at 1-800-NITTANY (648-8269) weekdays from 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. The pricing of 2012 Penn State football season tickets and accompanying donation levels is the same as in 2011.
Pre-paid single game parking passes for the general parking lots ($10) are also available at www.GoPSUsports.com/tickets.
Penn State Athletics is on Facebook and Twitter.
