UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State football is set to host a new-look Blue-White Game on Saturday, April 26, at 2 p.m.
Schools around the country are looking for a way to transform their spring game due to the changes over recent years in NIL, transfer portal rules and a longer season. Some schools such as Syracuse and Colorado talked about a combined spring training session, similar to what they do in the NFL. But that was quickly shut down by the NCAA.
For Penn State, the answer hasn’t been anything drastic. To this point, the Nittany Lions have announced four changes that are: no television, no halftime and modified reps.
The first big change is the game will no longer be televised. Before this season, a lot of the Big Ten spring games were streamed on the Big Ten Network for the whole country to see. This was until teams started to see negatives from the whole country watching their practice.
“The word ‘tampering’ doesn’t exist anymore,” Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule told FOX Sports at a press conference.
“It’s just an absolute free open common market. I don’t necessarily want to open up to the outside world and have people watch our guys and say, ‘He looks like a pretty good player. Let’s go get him.’”
Teams found out the hard way last season that showing your players to the world could cause a bigger fish to try and poach those doing well. Penn State won’t risk that this year, keeping the eyes in the stadium as the sole viewers for the game.
Next, the actual game will be shortened in terms of the quarter length and halftime. While specific changes have not been made public, James Franklin has noted he wants to keep his players healthy with a shorter on-field product.
It’s expected that the length of the game will still be long enough for fans to enjoy the event and for new staff members like defensive coordinator Jim Knowles to get reps in the Blue and White.
Along with this, Franklin is mindful of how much damage the extended 2024-25 season did to his players’ bodies. He will continue the trend he started three years ago of not playing his experienced players like Drew Allar on the sideline for most of the game.
This will also keep the eyes of potential player poachers off the most talented players.
