The Penn State Nittany Lions have completed their 2018 football schedule with the addition of the Appalachian State Mountaineers.
Penn State will open the 2018 season against Appalachian State at Beaver Stadium in University Park on Sept. 1. The game will be the first ever meeting between the two schools.
Other previously announced non-conference games for Penn State in 2018 include at Pittsburgh on Sept. 8 and home against Kent State on Sept. 15.
The Big Ten begins playing a nine-game conference schedule in 2016. Therefore, teams will only have three non-conference games per season after that format initiates.
Conference home games for the Nittany Lions in 2018 include Ohio State, Michigan State, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Maryland. Penn State will travel to face Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Rutgers.
The addition of Appalachian State today completes Penn State’s football schedules through the 2018 season. The Nittany Lions need two non-conference games each season from 2019 through 2022.
Football Schedules
You know, as a Penn St. fan I am very disappointed with their non-conference scheduling. It’s an utter embarrassment. I’m quite certain if they ever turn their program around and have a top-rated team, they will miss the NCAA playoffs because their schedule is so weak.
Dave I agree wholeheartedly! I’ve been a PSU fan for over 30 years, and I’m getting tired of these schedules with high school teams on them. If the BIG 10 remains weak, you’re right , we won’t make the playoffs in the future. We need SEC, PAC 12 opponents.
Remember App State is the team that beat Michigan–bring your A game or App State will bring it for you. I was thinking about coming up there to see this game–would love to see a game at Penn State but these sorry comments are making me think twice.
Let’s beat Temple this year before we worry about a weak OOC schedule
What a Joke of a ooc Schedule every year
@Joe
If you think that’s a joke look at the SEC OOC
This is the main reason our games are not sold out. We are Penn State and we should set an example for the rest of the NCAA and schedule competitive games.
rBad team , less tickets sold. very simple .plus the extra charge on all season ticket holders. Turned a lot of alumni off that supported the team for years , i did not t renew my tickets . I go down to games and buy tickets at the tailgates .
In 1982 we played Nebraska, West Virginia, Alabama, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, all ranked!!
If you want to be number 1 schedule like you are.
.
@Glenn, you do realize it isn’t 1982 and we are part of a conference that dictates we play 9 conference games going forward? Our AD also requires 7 home games to pay for all our other sports. I’d like to see 1 premium series each year, but that’s all we can do with a home and home commitment.
That would be a nice schedule, but that’s pre-B10. We cast our lot with the conference.
I really think that regardless of contractual arrangements in place for these games that after this season’s playoff there will be a lot of teams scrambling to reset their schedules. Some schools have already started doing this according to folks on the Sirius XM college football first team. A lot of callers are saying the same thing about their team’s schedules. Something will give and in 2-3 years i would see Penn state starting to look like the tough nosed hard hitting team we’ve all grown to love! Maybe with a bit more speed in the skill positions after seeing what recruiting is shaping up to be. Maybe a tough year or two to be a fan but we should support our team through everything afterall, fans are what drives great games especially at home! Lets Go State!
I just hope our guys can get out of Beaver Stadium without being sodomized.
Seriously, you guys need to get a grip on how long you have sucked and how the rest of the country views Penn State and your piss poor conference.
Dave shut up. We lost all of our good players and still have a winning record. We not only win, but our students get good grades too. You are forgetting that we have the future #1 draft pick a QB along with the greatest coach of all time. Nobody will ever top 409 wins. We may not play the greatest teams, but we play FBS teams. Every year, each SEC team plays at least one game against a FCS school, and they supposedly are the best conference. We beat national champs Ohio State last year, although the refs took it away. Watch some of the calls. You are forgetting that they also scheduled Pitt, West Virginia and Syracuse for the next few years as well. I am so excited about this. I can’t wait to get these old rivalries started again. I just hope they start scheduling BYU and Notre Dame. You are forgetting that a few years ago, we played Alabama two straight years. It does not get any better than that. For the upcoming years we scheduled LSU along West Virginia with Pitt and Syracuse, so we are playing quality teams. In addition to this, last year Temple and Buffalo were bowl eligible. Buffalo has done so many of the last few years. Meanwhile San Diego State has been to a bowl game 5 straight years. They have becoma a small school power house. Along with the big schools, not only are these good additions, but they play all three in the same year. Appalachian State was also bowl eligible last year and they will play Penn State soon. So before you say how much we stink, get your facts straight.
I like the four year series with PITT. Maybe even make it a two year on two year off event down the road. Each kid growing up in Pennsylvania will have a few games against the rival schools. 2023 looks ideal to me with Va. Tech and WVU on the schedule. A powerhouse like PSU should always have at least two P5 teams on the OOC schedule for the benefit of the fans as well as for the CFP committee. With so many P5 schools nearby like BC, the Virginia schools, PITT, WVU, and Syracuse it seems easy enough especially with PSU’s traveling fan base. Schedule something akin to the Shamrock Series Notre Dame does……
1.) Home and Home vs. BC @ Beaver Stadium & Fenway Park
2.) Home and Home vs. SYR @ Beaver Stadium & Yankee Stadium
3.) Home and Home vs. Va. Tech or Neutral and Neutral @ Lincoln Financial Field and Fed Ex Field
Even……
4.) Home and Home with Cincinnati @ Beaver Stadium and Paul Brown Field
I would take any two of those road or home games over Kent and Appalachian State in the same season……sorry.
I’ve been saying it for years. PSU should be playing West Virginia, BC, Syracuse, Virginia, Cincinnati, Pitt, Maryland/Rutgers (before they joined B10) NC State every year (do a rotation between them). Then schedule home and homes with Notre Dame, Alabama, Miami, Texas, USC – teams like these.
I was a PSU season ticket holder for 20 years and finally gave them up. Their non-conference schedule is terrible, what value am I receiving for the tickets I was buying. Honestly B10 is terrible. They should leave that conference and go the Notre Dame route. join ACC in all sports but football and agree to play 5 ACC teams a year that way to get revenue from a conference plus you would sell out Beaver Stadium every game.
@Snayburger do the math. You said in another post that you realize they need 7 home games. They cannot play the teams every year you mention (old eastern foes) plus the big premier national opponents. The math does not work. All of those teams with the exception of Temple require a return visit. It will not work with a 9 game Big Ten schedule:
year 1: 5 home B10 games; home BC, away Bama, 1 TBD home (7 home games)
year 2: 4 home B10 games; away BC, home Bama, and 1 TBD home (6 home games)
Pick the team you want, but you can’t have two sets of P5 that require a home and home. You need a P5 that won’t require a visit (e.g. Vanderbilt), or a non P5 (e.g. Connecticut)
I am a current season ticket holder and I don’t like the games I have to pay for, but that is the way of modern big time football and needing to pay for all the sports with football revenue. All I can say is lets enjoy our fall Saturdays and hope for W’s.
To be disgruntled about the schedule is one thing, but consider this. The vaunted SEC will not come North to play anyone. The PAC 12 will not come East and the Big 12 will only schedule the eastern teams at home. Get over it.
That is a crock. Washington went to Nebraska in 2011, LSU in 2012, Illinois in 2013 and plays at Rutgers in 2017 and @ Michigan in 2021. Penn State should come to Seattle in 2021-2022 when both Washington and Penn State have openings. By then, both of them might even be respectful. It is harder for Washington to get anybody to come to the Northwest.
Do you people have any idea what you are talking about. We have played ND and Alabama and other big non con games but when your coming off sanctions this is what needs to be done for a few years to build the program. And bringing the Pitt rivalry is a good thing.
Pittsburgh? that is a joke. The ACC is a joke
Penn State vs. Notre Dame please I would love to see that rivalry pick back up again. Especially Now with Franklin steering Penn State and Brian Kelly with Notre Dame. LETS GO PSU
I would love a game between the Huskies and the Lions. With a wife graduating from the UofA (Wildcats), a son graduating from AZ State (Sun Devils), and a son graduating from UW (Huskies) which leaves a Penn State’r paying the bills (the house Lion) I am ready to get some of my money back with a PAC (12 ) old PAC (10) match up every year. Remember the years playing USC, UofA in the kickoff classic? Oh for the good old days! I say play the tough non-conference schedule and let the Lions do their thing.
All great ideas, and as a guy growing up during the Eastern Independent years (BC, Syracuse, Pitt, WVU, Rutgers, Temple, UMD) every year plus USC, ND, Miami all time, I miss it. But here is the reality you all miss. The Big Ten is now moving to 9 conference games which leaves 3 OOC games. PSU needs 7 home games to pay the bills – that is a fact from the Athletic Departmet which pays for 31 other sports. Some years, there will be 5 away Big Ten games. That requires 3 HOME OOC games. How will you do that win all the home-away P5 match ups you’ve proposed? You can’t. You can have 1 P5 match-up you’ve proposed and the PSU home needs to be the year we have 5 away B10 games. The away can be the year we have 5 home B10 games. But then you nee the other 2 OOC games to be home. Who will that be? Only teams that won’t require a return home game; weak bottom-feeders from P5 (Wake Forest, Cal, Ore St) maybe, or non-P5 teams (MWC, C-USA, AAC, Sun Belt) who will not ask for a return date. Yes, I’m sick of the MAC too, but they serve a purpose. Maybe just one every few years. Never any FCS schools. So, the reality is we can do 1 home-away with a P5, not any more. The financial realities of needing 7 home games and the 9 B10 games ties PSU’s hands.
Botton line is its all about the bottom line. PSU needs & home games.
They could still rotate every year between BC, Syracuse,Pitt, WVU, Cincinnati, Temple, playing them at home to get 2 of the 3 non-conf games.
Every other yr PSU will have 5 home B10 games – that year you play the away game (Alabama, ND, USC, Texas) then the next year you have 4 home B10 games so then they come to Beaver Stadium so you have 3 non-conf games at home to get your 7 home games that are needed to support the other 31 sports programs.
They need to play a top-tier opponent to keep the ticket sales up.
@Snayburger, it sounds easy, but that is not going to every happen and you know it. If you could get Bama, UT, ND, you aren’t also working in all those ACC and AAC games you say to work through. Temple may agree to a 2-1 or a 3-1, but we know Cuse, BC, Cincy, Pitt, WVU will not. How do you work two sets of teams requiring a home and away with the 9 game Big Ten schedule? You don’t. Take your pick. I’d rather the national opponents than propping up ACC teams, but Bama, UT, ND also have pretty full OOC schedules going out 6 years.
On the years you have 5 Big Ten away games you need 3 home OOC games. That could be your premier OOC game (in your case – Bama, UT, etc). The other two need to be schools that don’t require a visit the following year.
You need to find a bunch of teams that are willing to visit without requiring a return. That’s where you can fill in with lower-tier P5 or non P-5 FBS teams. Sadly, what needing 7 home games does, is limit you to 1 premier OOC game. The other fact is that Franklin has stated he wants easier games. Not FCS, but he wants the wins, and figures that if he can win the Big Ten, he will be in the playoff. He’s probably right.
You don’t have to tell me, I’m a long-time season ticket holder/NLC member. I don’t like the long drive to watch MAC teams or other similar ones. Some years, it has been next to impossible to sell tickets. This past year was one of the worst home schedules ever with only Michigan a good team to watch. Also, I’m not sure how much Sandy Barbour minds some empty seats. Most of those empty seats were already paid for by us NLC members.
We all want a better schedule, it just won’t happen.
The only thing that Franklin is steering is a sinking ship. His offensive line coach is a joke and the defensive coordinator is even worse. Thet claim they are bringing in these 3 and 4 star recruits, well after this coaching staff get done with them they are like walk-ons
Wow, all the haters… Keeping in mind that we lost to TEMPLE this year so what, exactly, do we have to brag about and demand strong out of conference teams??
Look at Ohio State’s OOC schedule last year…Kent State? Cincinnati? or this year…Hawaii? Northern Illinois? Western Michigan??
There are 3 OOC games per year, and 9 in conference…let the team get their legs under them for a couple games each year before they run the conf schedule. I see nothing wrong with that. In the end, if they’re undefeated, they will be OK.
After so many years of insignificance…you guys are really getting ahead of yourselves…
We need a super conference and get rid of all these other worthless football programs.
PSU will be much improved next year. Franklin just terminated the offensive coordinator and PSU had the 4th best recruits. We have plenty of talented players on both sides of the ball coming back for the next several years. So we should see improvement. Furthermore, OSU, Mich and MSU are losing key players which will allow for a more competitive conference. 2016 should be a fun year in the Big 10.
penn state is a joke. They idolize a criminal who had zero honor and now is really warm and toastie in his home down below. worse fans in America. Will be dominated by the Buckeyes with Frankie as ped state coach.
PSU needs to win games against the mid majors. App State is a good football program. College football has changed in many ways. Kids go to where they can play now and not wait behind someone for 2 years.
We Are Penn State
To App State Fan
Come to Happy Valley
No matter the score of the game
Come enjoy the energy in the stadium
I think you will have a blast
Thanks, we probably will. I grew up watching Jo PA and Penn State. The game will be great, we play well and we play hard. It is exciting football. We were the first FCS to FBS team to go to and win our first bowl game—yes a smaller bowl, but exciting and great football. Thanks for the invite and for recognizing something the rest of this list might learn the hard way. I hope Penn State gets back to the place you deserve—at the top. I admire the kids and fans that stayed with the program even though I think the criminal charges are terrible and I hope that monster stays in jail.
Remember when:
Joe Pa wanted an Eastern Football Conference and no one would buy in.
That is what I have been saying right along. PSU non-conference schedule sucks and always have. Akron, Cincinnati, Kent State, Umass come on! You should be putting in some competition. ND, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, UCLA, No one is going to pay those prices to see Kent State and PSU play or Akron play PSU.. If you want to win a national title you got to run with the big dogs. Playing these schools like Cincinnati is ot going to do it.
Penn State’s schedule was A LOT more attractive IMO back in their eastern independent days. They played regional rivals AND 2-3 major programs every year, not teams from the Flyover County Conference (Big Ten) and Little Flyover Country Conference (MAC). That’s the major reason why I stopped caring about Penn State football in the mid-1990s.