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Penn State’s annual White Out game, widely considered one of college football’s most intimidating spectacles, returns Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET/NBC) when 19th-ranked USC visits Beaver Stadium for a nationally televised Big Ten matchup.
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What began as a student section tradition has evolved into one of the sport’s premier spectacles, drawing national attention for its scale, energy and unmistakable atmosphere.
FULL STORY: Penn State’s White Out: From simple idea to college football’s most famous sea of white
Here’s a quick primer on how the sea-of-white tradition started and what makes it a signature night in Happy Valley:
- The game: Penn State is holding its 19th full-stadium White Out; the Nittany Lions enter Saturday’s matchup 11-7 in such games but have dropped two in a row, including a 30-24 double-overtime loss to Oregon in 2025.
- The origin: Guido D’Elia, then the athletic department’s branding director, launched a grassroots campaign in 2004 asking the student section to wear plain white T-shirts for a game against Purdue. Penn State lost that day, but the visual template stuck.
- Going stadium-wide: In 2007, Penn State expanded the White Out beyond the student section to the full stadium. The first all-white crowd of 110,078 watched the Nittany Lions rout Notre Dame 31-10.
- The opponents: USC marks the 12th different opponent that Penn State has hosted for a White Out game, joining Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Illinois, Iowa, Alabama, Auburn, Minnesota, Washington, SMU and Oregon. Michigan has been the opponent the most times (six) when counting full-stadium and student section-only games.
- Biggest crowd: The 2025 White Out against Oregon drew 111,015 fans – the largest White Out attendance in Penn State history.
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Mike Garbett is a content specialist working with McClatchy’s Content Innovation Lab.
This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence and using our own originally reported, written and published content. It was reviewed and edited by our journalists.
The post Penn State’s White Out game vs. USC: A guide to the iconic tradition appeared first on Student Section.
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This story was originally published October 9, 2026 at 7:35 AM.