Penn State's white out record

[aubiefifty 17,078]

Penn State's white out record isn't as good as you might think

Zac Blackerby

2 minutes

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The main thing that Penn State fans want to talk about this week is what the atmosphere in Beaver Stadium will look like Saturday night when they host the Auburn Tigers.

Penn State announced that it would be a whiteout and asked all fans to wear white to support their team.

The imagery is impressive and Auburn is preparing for the crowd being loud in this contest but the win-loss record when Penn State does their whiteout is surprisingly average.

According to the White Out (Penn State) Wikipedia page, the Nittany Lions are just 8-8 all time when conducting a whiteout.

Penn State’s first whiteout game was against Purdue in 2002, the Nittany Lions lost 13-21.

The only SEC team that they have hosted and conducted a whiteout was against Alabama in 2011. The Crimson Tide won 27-11.

Something to keep in mind is that Penn State only scheduled the whiteout when they are facing a team where they believe they need the home field edge but the way that fans promote it, many would assume that their record would be better in this environment.

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[psufan25 21]

Here is the full list of PSU's record in white out games. Note that not all of these games are full stadium whiteouts (some were just students) they only started doing the yearly stadium whiteouts in 2011. I've bolded the ones that were full stadium whiteouts. Note that the 2004 Purdue, 2011 Alabama, and 2015 Michigan games were noon or afternoon games and not night games. Also note that the 2009 Iowa game was in a monsoon (I was there, most rain I've ever seen at a PSU game) which basically muted the stadium whiteout effect. I have been to every one of these games except for 2004 and 2006. Illinois got it in 2008 because of how poor PSU's home schedule was that year. I forget the reason why Iowa got it over OSU in 2009.

PSU was the lower ranked team in all of these games except for 2007 through 2009, 2017, and 2019. PSU's record is not surprising given how much Ohio State gets this game (along with having it 1 year for Alabama), and the fact that 2012 through 2015 were the biggest impact years from the sanctions.

I would say games where the whiteout changed the outcome would be in 2005, 2013, and 2016. 2014 almost changed the outcome but OSU held on in OT. 2018 PSU had a 2 TD lead in the fourth quarter which they blew, so that one should have been a win. The rest of the winning years PSU was simply the better team.

Not using this to make a point, just wanted to share some fun facts about the whiteout. Prior to whiteouts PSU tried a student blueout once, but we won't talk about that anymore.

Year	Opponent	Penn State result
2004	No. 9 Purdue	L 13–21
2005	No. 6 Ohio State	W 17–10
2006	No. 4 Michigan	L 10–17
2007	Notre Dame	W 31–10
2008	No. 22 Illinois	W 38–24
2009	Iowa	L 10–21
2010	Michigan	W 41–31
2011	No. 3 Alabama	L 11–27
2012	No. 9 Ohio State	L 23–35
2013	No. 18 Michigan	W 43–40 (4OT)
2014	No. 13 Ohio State	L 24–31 (2OT)
2015	No. 14 Michigan	L 16–28
2016	No. 2 Ohio State	W 24–21
2017	No. 19 Michigan	W 42–13
2018	No. 4 Ohio State	L 26–27
2019	No. 16 Michigan	W 28–21

[gravejd 3,272]

Another interesting thing to consider is what was the spread for each of those games? Was Penn St favored to win them or the other team? Even in the loses maybe the atmosphere had Penn St playing better than they should have been or were expected too. I've said before that i will be disappointed if our experienced team gets rattled by the environment. But after the beat down UGA put on us during that blackout game i refuse to discount the impact a crowd can have. We were buried on the damn opening kickoff of that game. We come out sloppy in this one and you can bet we'll get buried again

[SRBautigerfan 1,040]

If Auburn can go in there and grab a win in that amazing environment it'll be impressive and well earned.  

[psufan25 21]

@gravejdI would have to pull up exact numbers, but based on my historical knowledge of the teams PSU would have been the favorite in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2017, and 2019. All other years PSU would have been dogs.

I can tell you that PSU definitely covered in:

2004, 2005 (straight up W), 2007, 2010 (straight up W), 2011 (backdoor cover), 2012, 2013 (straight up W), 2014, 2016 (straight up W), 2017, and 2018.

The opponent definitely covered in: 2009, 2015, 2019 (barely)

I am unsure about 2006, Michigan would have been favored but I don't recall by how much, it would've probably been right around that 7 though. Lets say that UM covered this.

I am also unsure about 2008, PSU would have been the favorite, but Illinois was ranked at the time so it likely wouldn't have been a 14 point spread. I'll say PSU covered that one.

So my estimation that in whiteout games PSU is 12-4 ATS.

 

[psufan25 21]

Just a correction on the above, the PSU Alabama spread was 10 so Alabama covered that one. Make the ATS record 11-5 instead of 12-4.

[woodford 3,677]

“Number 9 Purdue” and “number 22 Illinois” wow lol it’s been a while 

[Gowebb11 9,425]

I look forward to watching this game. I believe the teams to be very evenly matched and I know the atmosphere will be electric. I just heard a good quote about crowd noise. “Once it’s so loud you can’t hear, it can’t get louder.” This game will still be about blocking, tackling, kicking game, and turnovers. Ought to be a good one. WDE 🦅!

[j0hnnyRingo 1,445]

The White Out is cool, for sure.  It creates a distinct home field advantage for them.  A lot of the teams they play dont typically play in that kind of environment, since most of the big time B1G games are noon kick offs.

How many times have we played in prime time slots at LSU/Tuscaloosa/Florida/UGa in a packed house full of fans?  A lot.  

Is Beaver Stadium going to be crazy Saturday night?  Yes.  Is it going to be an environment unlike anything Auburn has ever played in?  No.  

[Mikey 16,777]

4 minutes ago, j0hnnyRingo said:

Is Beaver Stadium going to be crazy Saturday night?  Yes.  Is it going to be an environment unlike anything Auburn has ever played in?  No.  

This pretty much nails it.

[Barnacle 9,064]

It's definitely going to be a factor. I wish people would stop debating how much of an effect it will have and just appreciate it for what it is. Looking forward to the challenge.

[j0hnnyRingo 1,445]

14 minutes ago, Barnacle said:

It's definitely going to be a factor. I wish people would stop debating how much of an effect it will have and just appreciate it for what it is. Looking forward to the challenge.

Everything has been focused on the White Out and the fact that Auburn has played two cupcakes to open the season...

 

Nobody seems concerned with Penn States offense?  11 first downs vs Wisconsin, with only 1 of those coming in the first half vs Wisconsin's 29 first downs?  Penn State hasnt exactly been stellar on offense so far this year, and I do believe our Defense is going to be hyped to play in that environment.

[SRBautigerfan 1,040]

24 minutes ago, Barnacle said:

It's definitely going to be a factor. I wish people would stop debating how much of an effect it will have and just appreciate it for what it is. Looking forward to the challenge.

This.  Why some of our own fans want to downplay a possible Auburn win in a tough environment on the road against a ranked opponent is beyond me.

[AuburnTiger4Life 2,225]

 

[woodford 3,677]

21 minutes ago, AuburnTiger4Life said:

 

Good god what an infuriating game. A win. It was right there !!!!!! But no. 
 

I hope at least Joe Burrow respects Auburn because we put that game on a silver platter for them and pushed them to the brink the next year. 

[Viper 3,139]

47 minutes ago, woodford said:

Good god what an infuriating game. A win. It was right there !!!!!! But no. 

I hope at least Joe Burrow respects Auburn because we put that game on a silver platter for them and pushed them to the brink the next year. 

Wasn’t there around 4 defensive PI calls on AU that last drive? Never ever seen one lone drive with that many PIs, esp being it was the final drive of a game. 

[AuburnEagle79 2,170]

7 minutes ago, Viper said:

Wasn’t there around 4 defensive PI calls on AU that last drive? Never ever seen one lone drive with that many PIs, esp being it was the final drive of a game. 

It was something like that. It was becoming so blatantly bad that I was laughing at how many they were calling. 

[gravejd 3,272]

1 hour ago, woodford said:

Good god what an infuriating game. A win. It was right there !!!!!! But no. 
 

I hope at least Joe Burrow respects Auburn because we put that game on a silver platter for them and pushed them to the brink the next year. 

Oh man that defensive performance Burrows senior season was a masterpiece. We should have won a natty with that defense. 🤬

[woodford 3,677]

1 hour ago, gravejd said:

Oh man that defensive performance Burrows senior season was a masterpiece. We should have won a natty with that defense. 🤬

An average defense would’ve beaten Georgia that year by 10 points 

[Viper 3,139]

2 hours ago, AuburnEagle79 said:

It was something like that. It was becoming so blatantly bad that I was laughing at how many they were calling. 

Same here. I started laughing after the 3rd PI. I was telling the refs through the TV, “Just walk em into the end zone!”

[cbo 7,968]

4 hours ago, Barnacle said:

It's definitely going to be a factor. I wish people would stop debating how much of an effect it will have and just appreciate it for what it is. Looking forward to the challenge.

Exactly. It sure looks like an impressive environment to me. Sure, AU plays in similar stadiums, but hasn't since 2019. This will be a brand new experience for the younger guys. 

Either way, it doesn't help AU to diminish the difficulty, win or lose. I'm just glad it's happening and can't wait to watch.

[aucanucktiger 1,805]

This sounds like the reality of Baton Rouge night games. The last 2-3 yrs notwithstanding, for decades LSU (and a very compliant media) falsely touted LSU dominance at home at night.

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

If we had a rookie QB then I would be more worried. But Bo is not going to be distracted by the crowd. He has played at Bama and LSU so he is good. Even TJ has played in some big games so I think he is good if needed. But if we lose it won’t be because of the crowd. 

[cbo 7,968]

Just now, Eagle Eye 7 said:

If we had a rookie QB then I would be more worried. But Bo is not going to be distracted by the crowd. He has played at Bama and LSU so he is good. Even TJ has played in some big games so I think he is good if needed. But if we lose it won’t be because of the crowd. 

I agree with your overall point, but Bo hasn't played in front of a real away crowd since 2019. His biggest those years were at LSU and FL and those games did not go well for him. I just think people are forgetting that. 

He still should be much better equipped to handle it at this point. 

[PSUPat 126]

8 hours ago, gravejd said:

Another interesting thing to consider is what was the spread for each of those games? Was Penn St favored to win them or the other team? Even in the loses maybe the atmosphere had Penn St playing better than they should have been or were expected too. I've said before that i will be disappointed if our experienced team gets rattled by the environment. But after the beat down UGA put on us during that blackout game i refuse to discount the impact a crowd can have. We were buried on the damn opening kickoff of that game. We come out sloppy in this one and you can bet we'll get buried again

Keep in mind home field advantage is factored into spread, but according to Vegas its about a 7-10 point advantage on a white out night, 5-7 for home field on other nights.  

Penn State was a losing team last year.   Auburn would be favored on a neutral field.