The Penn State Nittany Lions at Michigan State Spartans football game in 2023 has been moved to Black Friday and will be played in Detroit, it was announced on Wednesday.
Penn State and Michigan State will square off at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich., on Friday, Nov. 24, 2023 (Week 13). The game will be televised live by NBC and streamed by Peacock at 7:30pm ET.
“This is a unique opportunity, for both our football program and our fan base, to play a Black Friday game at Ford Field,” said MSU Vice President and Director of Athletics Alan Haller. “Southeast Michigan is home to 100,000 alums, nearly 50 percent of our student body and countless more Spartan fans. Our men’s basketball team has experienced tremendous support in Detroit, both at Ford Field and Little Caesars Arena, and we’re excited to bring Spartan Football to our fans in the Motor City. The city is important to our mission not only as an athletic department, but our entire University. We anticipate that the experience will be so much more than a football game for our Spartan faithful.
“The decision to move a home game out of Spartan Stadium was given careful consideration, as we understand the impact it will have on some fans. As a community partner, we recognize home football brings benefits to the entire Mid-Michigan area. The fact that this game falls on a holiday weekend Friday increased our willingness make the move. I believe our season ticket holders still have a strong collection of home games highlighted by Michigan and a premier non-conference game against Washington, with a total of six home games just as we had in 2021.”
The game was originally scheduled to be played at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Mich., on Saturday, Nov. 25. Tickets for the rescheduled contest in Detroit will be sold as a stand-alone event in the near future.
“This is an exciting opportunity for our program to play in prime time on a holiday weekend,” said MSU head football coach Mel Tucker. “Our players will be able to compete in an NFL environment while being showcased in the national spotlight. I’m looking forward to our fans creating a loud atmosphere and giving us a home-field advantage at Ford Field.”
Penn State and Michigan State first met on the gridiron in 1914 and have played 37 times. The Nittany Lions won the most recent contest last season, 35-16, which tied the overall series between the two schools, 18-18-1.
Football Schedules
NBC gets the premier late season primetime matchup they wanted from the B10 (to keep the big payout to the B10 intact).
The key question is what does the B10/NBC do to fill that Black Friday primetime slot going forward.
Will the B10 match up PSU and MSU every year and always have MSU host PSU in Detroit on Black Friday in primetime alternating with UCLA hosting PSU/MSU in LA on Black Friday in primetime in years when USC hosts ND?
And does NBC always get ND@USC and UCLA@USC in primetime that Thanksgiving Saturday?
NBC should get UM-OSU starting in 2024. If college realignment has taught me anything, it’s that traditions are allowed to fall by the wayside. If the CFB world was able to put up with Texas-Texas A&M not being played for over a decade, then it can certainly put up with UM-OSU being played at night.
You assume the Big Ten will allow USC/ND to remain on final weekend every other year.
If Z-Man has taught me anything, it’s that he will never tire of beating his dead horse.
Just wake up before 4PM and you’ll be fine.
Richard, I make a really good point.
The Big Ten makes more money playing football during the day than at night. They are not moving the largest watched game of the season to a night game to satisfy the feng shui of the Z-man. There is more money for the Big Ten with daytime play – and money seems to be of the first order for the Big Ten.
Spencer, it’s an example of money causing more problems than it solves. Big Ten schools aren’t the only cowards when it comes to something like this. Schools in the Southern United States refuse to play late season OOC games in the North. That’s something else that needs changing.
Z-Man, there is no cowardice; there is no problem. Schools in conferences play most of their conference games at the end of the season. None of these schools want to disrupt this conference run and as a result don’t play out of conference opponents. Weather has nothing to do with it. The something that needs to change is your puerile prospective and understanding of college football.
Mr Vandy: To give NBC more major late Nov primetime games (that NBC paid a handsome sum for), keeping the ND@USC game at the end of the year might work out best for the B10.
I would like to see this game be played in Detroit or Pitt/Philiadelphia every year since its inception this game has been played on Thanksgiving weekend, but given both these schools have huge undergraduate populations from their respective in state cities it could allow kids to go home but yet see their school play.
This comes from a traditionalist that would much rather all college football games played in college stadiums but I realize I am a dying breed…..
For instance, Ohio State is currently scheduled to host Georgia, a team they have never beat including blowing a two touchdown lead in last year’s CFP, on August 30, 2031. That game should be moved to the week before the Michigan game, so that OSU can have a competitive advantage, being more used to cold weather than UGA.
Why would Ohio State want to play Georgia, the week before they are to play at Michigan? (See the last sentence from retort above.)
Spencer, guess what the highest-rated network primetime program has been for several years? A presentation of American football games. And that is very telling.
Those are presentations of PROFESSIONAL American football – the NFL. That’s a completely different animal!
Only two college football games that landed in the top 100 viewed telecasts was: the CFP Championship Game and the Big Ten Championship Game. This is where the interest of the viewership of college football is focused. This is where the attention of the Big Ten is immersed. And you don’t get to the CFP or the Big Ten Championship game by playing Georgia (anywhere) a week ahead of your archrival and the potential gateway to both of these goals. Z-man, try to fix something else.