How has Penn State football fared in previous White Out games? Here’s a look
Penn State will host its annual White Out game on Saturday when the Oregon Ducks head to Happy Valley for one of the greatest spectacles in college sports.
How do the Nittany Lions perform in those games? Let’s take a look.
What to know about the White Out
This is the 18th full stadium White Out in program history, which does not include last year’s playoff matchup with SMU — when fans wore white but it was not technically deemed a White Out. Of those 18 games, this is only the second matchup between two top-10 teams in the AP top 25, with the Nittany Lions coming in at No. 3 and Oregon at No. 6. It joins the 2018 matchup featuring No. 9 Penn State and No. 4 Ohio State, which the Buckeyes won 27-26.
The Ducks are the fifth top-10 opponent to play in a White Out, with PSU holding a 1-3 record in those games, and the win coming in 2016 against No. 2 Ohio State. Penn State head coach James Franklin’s record is 1-1 in those games, with the two aforementioned matchups against Ohio State being the two top-five opponents he faced.
Those numbers do not include White Outs that were done by only the student section in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Penn State went 1-2 in those games and all three were against top-10 opponents.
Overall record
The Nittany Lions are 11-6 in full stadium White Outs, including a 5-0 record since the start of the 2019 season.
Here are those results:
2007: No. 14 Penn State 31, Notre Dame 10
2008: No. 12 Penn State 38, No. 22 Illinois, 24
2009: Iowa 21, No. 5 Penn State 10
2010: Penn State 41, Michigan 31
2011: No. 3 Alabama 27, No. 23 Penn State 11
2012: No. 9 Ohio State 35, Penn State 23
2013: Penn State 43, No. 18 Michigan 40 (4OT)
2014: No. 13 Ohio State 31, Penn State 24 (2OT)
2015: No. 14 Michigan 28, Penn State 16
2016: Penn State 24, No. 2 Ohio State 21
2017: No. 2 Penn State 42, No. 19 Michigan 13
2018: No. 4 Ohio State 27, No. 9 Penn State 26
2019: No. 7 Penn State 28, No. 16 Michigan 21
2021: No. 10 Penn State 28, No. 22 Auburn 20
2022: No. 16 Penn State 45, Minnesota 17
2023: No. 7 Penn State 31, No. 24 Iowa 0
2024: No. 6 Penn State 35, Washington 6
Against the spread
Penn State is 11-6 against the spread in White Outs, with three of those covers coming as outright upsets as an underdog. The Nittany Lions are 6-3 against the spread as favorites, and 5-3 as underdogs. They 8-1 in games they were favored in — falling to Iowa 21-10 in 2009 despite being 9.5 point favorites.
The Nittany Lions are 3.5-point favorites against Oregon this Saturday.
Here are the spreads for all 17 previous White Outs.
(spreads via OddsShark)
2007: Penn State -18
2008: Penn State -15
2009: Penn State -9.5
2010: Penn State +3
2011: Penn State +10
2012: Penn State +1
2013: Penn State +1.5
2014: Penn State +13.5
2015: Penn State +3.5
2016: Penn State +17.5
2017: Penn State -7.5
2018: Penn State +3.5
2019: Penn State -7.5
2021: Penn State -4
2022: Penn State -5.5
2023: Penn State -14
2024: Penn State -13.5
This story was originally published September 25, 2025 at 11:02 AM.
