PSU White Out a sight to behold, then game began
UNIVERSITY PARK — Any true college football fan knows of Penn State’s annual White Out game at Beaver Stadium.
It’s a spectacle on TV but to see it in person gives one an ever greater appreciation for the excitement and electricity brought on by the extravaganza.
The 2026 edition came Saturday night and here is how it unfolded.
The traditional lion’s growl is heard over the speakers to start if all off and the Blue Band marches out with the A Touch of Blue majorettes in front. The band plays as the drum major attempts his midfield flip — he over-rotated and had to do an extra tumble, but made up for it with better execution in front of the student section a few minutes later — and then comes the national anthem complete with fireworks.
The build-up was just beginning. The band eventually goes into “PSU” and “LIONS” formations as it plays the alma mater and fight song.
This is all going on while a loud, stadium-record crowd of 114,410 fans show off their white attire, complete with white pom poms being waved throughout the student section.
The comparison to me was the ocean. I had, of course, heard about the beach and the ocean as a little kid but that couldn’t prepare me for my first trip there, at Nags Head, North Carolina, as I climbed up over a sand dune and took it all in, the vastness of the water spread out before me behind the sand. It was awe-inspiring.
It was similar to the way I felt looking around Beaver Stadium during my first live White Out experience, taking in this amazing, rocking all-around sea of white.
The band continues to play, the lights dim, a stirring White Out introduction comes over the loudspeakers followed by Phil Collins’ mood-setting “In the Air Tonight” song and more fireworks.
The crowd’s intensity grows to a fever pitch as, finally, the Nittany Lions football team races out onto the field.
It was deafening. It gave me chills.
Oh, wait, I guess I have veered a bit off track. This is a sports column so I should concentrate a bit on the game.
Yes, (sigh) then there was the actual game. The mood for Penn State fans was pretty much all downhill once play began. The Nittany Lions football team fell far short of living up to the pregame hype, though it did hang in for most of the game.
The opponent was 19th-ranked USC, a team with an elite quarterback in Jayden Malava, but a suspect defense. The Trojans received the kickoff and, unphased by the tremendous hoopla, briskly moved straight down the field for a touchdown. Their first three plays were a pair of 12-yard passes and a 14-yard run. The final three plays of the drive were a 10-yard run, an 18-yard pass and a 19-yard touchdown pass.
Eight plays, 75 yards, 7-0.
To Penn State’s credit it responded with a touchdown drive of its own, sparked by Rocco Becht’s 47-yard pass to Chase Sowell and capped by his fourth-down, 13-yard pass to wide-open tight end Andrew Rappleyea.
The Nittany Lions answered another USC touchdown with a scoring drive of their own, capped by Carson Hansen’s 3-yard run in the second quarter.
When USC made a 37-yard field goal late in the half, Penn State came back with a 48-yard field goal as the clock ran out to forge a 17-17 halftime tie.
The crowd grew hopeful when the Nittany Lions took their first lead of 20-17 with a field goal early in the third quarter.
The tide turned for good when USC seized the lead back with a 10-play, 75-yard drive and the Trojans never trailed again.
When a Penn State field goal whittled the gap to one, the undaunted Trojans marched 71 yards in 10 plays to go up 31-23.
Mistakes, physical and mental, did in the Nittany Lions in the end.
Penn State twice wasted timeouts to avoid delay-of-game penalties when it sent in a late offensive substitution that the defense, by rule, was given time to counter, once in the first half and once, much more critically, in the second half.
Nittany Lions coach Matt Campbell wasted his team’s final precious timeout in excruciating fashion.
Penn State actually got a break when Malava threw an incompletion on a third-and-4 play from the USC 13, stopping the clock with 4:26 left in the game and the Nittany Lions still down by eight. Campbell sent out his punt return unit but Trojans coach Lincoln Riley left his offense on the field as the play clock ticked down.
Penn State had a return man deep, meaning Malava basically faced an 11-on-10 situation on fourth and 4. Despite that numbers advantage, there was almost no chance Riley was going to have his offense risk actually running a play and potentially giving the Nittany Lions the ball on the USC 13.
It’s likely Riley was hoping to draw a Penn State defender offsides to give his team an easy first down.
Campbell panicked as he watched the situation unfold and burned his team’s last timeout, with the clock already stopped.
Riley, of course, his ploy having giving his team a positive result, then sent out his punting unit.
Even after all that, the Nittany Lions still had chances to potentially get the game into overtime.
Despite a 2-yard loss on the punt return that left Penn State with the ball on its own 40, Becht completed a 25-yard pass to the USC 35 on the next play, but Brett Eskildsen fumbled the ball away.
Still, a three-and-out by their defense would’ve given the Nittany Lions one last shot at a game-tying drive.
Instead, in an obvious running-situation, USC shredded Penn State’s defense with consecutive runs for first downs of 11 and 16 yards that all but finished off the Trojans’ victory.
USC left Beaver Stadium with a 6-1 record and an outside shot at making the College Football Playoff while Penn State is reeling at 3-3 and on a three-game losing skid, its only wins so far coming over Marshall, Temple and Buffalo.
The Nittany Lions’ goal now should be somehow getting to six wins to become bowl eligible.
That’s the glum reality white-clad Penn State fans had to deal with as they strolled out of Beaver Stadium in the rain on a Saturday night that began with such exhilaration and promise.
Rob Burchianti is sports editor of the Herald-Standard and can be reached at rburchianti@heraldstandard.com