Now that Penn State’s regular-season finale at Michigan State has been reportedly moved to a Black Friday contest on Nov. 24, perhaps the question is whether the Nittany Lions can literally weather the storm?
Though a lot can happen between now and then, Penn State should be favored in the contest, perhaps heavily. The Nittany Lions are coming off an 11-2 season and are a preseason Top 10 team. Sparty, meanwhile, was a desultory 5-7 in 2022.
In addition, recent history tells us that under James Franklin, Penn State does quite well under Friday night lights — to the combined tune of 122-24 in their last two regular season contests played on a Friday evening.
The Nittany Lions defeated Illinois 63-24 under the Champaign lights on Sept. 21, 2018, in their Big Ten season opener. A year later, Maryland canceled classes for the Friday that Penn State went to College Park for a Sept. 27 night contest — whereupon the Nittany Lions shelled the Terps, 59-0.
But Penn State on the road — very likely at night, given that NBC will telecast the contest — vs. Michigan State?
In recent years, the Nittany Lions have not weathered the visit to East Lansing all that well.
At Spartan Stadium on Nov. 4, 2017, Penn State lost to Michigan State 27-24 on a last-second field goal in a game that was delayed 3-1/2 hours by lightning and rain. Penn State led 14-7 when the game was postponed midway through the second quarter. The contest, counting the delay and halftime, lasted seven hours, with the loss dropping No. 7 Penn State to 7-2.
And in a regular-season ending contest played in a snowstorm on Nov. 27, 2021, Michigan State won 30-27 despite quarterback Sean Clifford’s 313 passing yards and three TDs.
Overall, Penn State is 1-3 on the road against Michigan State, and 4-5 since Franklin arrived in Happy Valley in 2014. The last three PSU losses came by a combined 10 points.
For Penn State, maybe the solution is to move the game indoors. It’s not that far of a move.
Ford Field in Detroit is just 91.1 miles along I-96 to the east of East Lansing. It is an indoor stadium constructed in 2002, and is home to the NFL’s Detroit Lions. Its temperature is kept at a comfortable 69 degrees, while East Lansing’s average high on Nov. 24 is 41 degrees at 2:45 p.m., according to Weather Spark. Ford Field seats 65,000, while Spartan Stadium’s capacity is 75,005.
Ford Field will be busy on Thanksgiving, the day before Penn State now will face Michigan State. Detroit will host the Green Bay Packers at 12:30 p.m., in a game nationally-televised on FOX. It would make for an interesting Lions/Nittany Lions double-header for Penn State fans, given that Clifford was a fifth-round 2023 draft pick of the Packers and has a good shot at making the team. Former PSU offensive tackle Rasheed Walker is on the Packers’ roster, while safety Adrian Amos could be as well. Amos, a free agent, spent the last four seasons with the Packers. Former PSU linebacker Jason Cabinda, now a fullback, is the sole Penn Stater on Detroit’s roster.
Ford Field has 11 locker rooms, so two games in two days is certainly feasible.
For its part, Michigan State will be weather-tested by the time it plays Penn State. On Nov. 11, the Spartans travel to Ohio State for a 7:30 p.m. contest. It will be the latest night game ever played in The Horseshoe. Sparty will be used to Fridays, too. They open the 2023 season at home against Central Michigan on Friday, Sept. 1.
The Penn State-Michigan State series is tied at 18-18-1.
FRIDAY HISTORY
In its 136 years of intercollegiate football, Penn State has played 27 regular-season games on a Friday, with a 16-9-1 overall record and a 8-4 mark on the road.
The Nittany Lions are 6-1 in Friday night games, with all six taking place on the road or at neutral sites. Penn State’s first night game was played on Friday, Oct. 31, 1941 at the Polo Grounds against NYU. Penn State won 42-0 in front of a crowd of 10,690. Its most recent Friday night game was the Maryland contest, which upped Penn State’s Friday-night record in the Big Ten to 2-0.
Before the 2018 Friday game at Illinois, the last time that Penn State played a regular season game on a Friday was on Nov. 26, 1982, in Beaver Stadium. The second-ranked Nittany Lions defeated No. 5 Pittsburgh, 19-10. (Penn State’s quarterback that day, Todd Blackledge, will be in the NBC broadcast booth for the 2023 Penn State-Michigan State game.) Penn State’s win over Pitt secured the Nittany Lions’ 1983 Sugar Bowl berth, where they defeated No. 1 Georgia, 27-23, for the program’s first national title.
From 1976-1982, Penn State faced Pitt four times the Friday after Thanksgiving, going 2-2.
