STATE COLLEGE — Despite a nationwide trend of major college programs canceling spring games, often citing the length of the 2024 season, Penn State has no plans of doing so — both for this year and in the future.
The annual Blue-White Game is set for 2 p.m. April 26 at Beaver Stadium, which is still under ongoing renovations.
“I’ve been at Penn State now long enough to understand the impact that Penn State football has on this entire community,” coach James Franklin said Tuesday at his opening spring press conference. “There needs to be give and take with this. We need to work together. A successful Penn State football program helps everybody out: the bars, the restaurants, the hotels.
“So for me to, at any point, sit here and say we’re not going to have a spring game — I don’t think that would make sense for a ton of reasons.”
Franklin earlier this offseason said Penn State would explore making modifications to the public spring practice. The biggest? The Blue-White Game won’t be televised this year. It’s likely to still be broadcast on the radio.
As for the actual game format, Franklin said he anticipates it looking like a true scrimmage. Quarters will likely be a bit shorter and there likely won’t be a halftime. There will be a mix of live hitting and “thud” portions and a fewer portion of plays. But still, Franklin felt it important to keep the game around.
“There’s been years where we’ll have 75,000 people out there, we’ll go to halftime for 20 minutes and the parking lot becomes more attractive than the second half. The tailgating,” Franklin said. “But also, I know we have some real, real football people in our fan base that want to watch and evaluate our roster. Get excited and have discussions at the barber shop or at the water jug and discussing what Penn State football is going to look like next year.”
Furthermore, Franklin noted the importance of getting new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles in the stadium for the first time to call plays, while the live practice will be a key chance for young players to receive key reps.
“I wanted to be enough that (the media) feels like it was it was worth it,” Franklin said, “and our fans feel like, ‘Hey, I’ve got a pretty good feel and idea of what Penn State football is going to look like.’”
