The final plays of the 2023 Penn State football season were played just a day ago, but it is never too early to start thinking about next season. The 2024 season should be an interesting one for the entire college football landscape with the next wave of seismic conference realignment taking form and the College Football Playoff expanding from four teams to 12. But the 2024 season will also be one that puts Penn State under some increased pressure in Happy Valley after the way the 2023 season played out.
The good news for Penn State in 2024 is the Nittany Lions will not have to deal with Michigan in the regular season. The bad news is they do still have to tango with Ohio State. They also will play host to the last Pac-12 champion, and new Big Ten foe Washington. On top of that, Penn State will also make a cross-country trip to Los Angeles to play USC, another new member of the Big Ten in 2024.
Penn State’s 2024 campaign will begin on the road against West Virginia on Aug. 31, 2024. The game will be the second part of the scheduled home-and-home series which began with a primetime opener to the 2023 season in Beaver Stadium. Penn State topped West Virginia by a score of 38-15 but the Mountaineers went on to have a successful season with a 9-4 record capped by a bowl victory over North Carolina. That could be a fun opening game in Morgantown next Labor Day weekend.
Penn State will get to open Big Ten play at home against Illinois on Sept. 28, 2024 and will play both Los Angeles-based schools the following two weeks. Penn State will host UCLA on Oct. 5 and then fly out to California to play at USC the following Saturday (Oct. 12) before getting a week off.
Penn State will face what should be a challenging three-game stretch after the bye week with a road game at Wisconsin and back-to-back home games against Ohio State and Washington. The season wraps with games at Purdue and at Minnesota before the home finale against Maryland.
Here is the full 2024 Penn State schedule:
- 8/31 – at West Virginia
- 9/7 – BOWLING GREEN
- 9/14 – Bye Week
- 9/21 – KENT STATE
- 9/28 – ILLINOIS*
- 10/5 – UCLA*
- 10/12 – at USC*
- 10/19 – Bye Week
- 10/26 – at Wisconsin*
- 11/2 – OHIO STATE*
- 11/9 – WASHINGTON*
- 11/16 – at Purdue*
- 11/23 – at Minnesota*
- 11/30 – MARYLAND*
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