What time is the Penn State vs. Michigan State football game in Week 13?

What time is the Penn State-Michigan State football game?

Penn State will be on the road for the final game of the regular season, and the Nittany Lions could be walking into a hornet’s nest in East Lansing. After Michigan State was flat-put embarrassed on the road by Ohio State in Week 12, the Spartans will play one final game at home looking to redeem themselves and put themselves in position for a possible New Years Six bowl game. And we now know, officially, exactly when this game will be played.

Already slotted to be a mid-afternoon game, the official kickoff time for the Nittany Lions and Spartans has been locked in for a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff. The game will air on ABC. Penn State and Michigan State have become a pretty good fixture for the mid-afternoon timeslot when played at the end of the season so the broadcast doesn’t interfere with the broadcast of the Ohio State–Michigan game. This year’s meeting between the Buckeyes and Spartans will crown a Big Ten East Division champion with both teams looking excellent on Saturday.

Penn State will face a stiff challenge from the Michigan State running game. Kenneth Walker was shut down by Ohio State, likely eliminating him from any serious run for the Heisman Trophy, but the Nittany Lions have struggled at times against good running teams. Michigan State is just that.

The Spartans got exposed with their FBS-worst pass defense by the Buckeyes, but it remains to be seen who will be throwing passes for Penn State in this one. Sean Clifford left Saturday’s game with an illness and beat-up arm. Freshman Christian Veilleux made his Penn State debut and turned in a solid performance with three touchdown passes. Penn State has the receivers to take advantage of Michigan State’s clear weak spot, but doing so on the road should still be challenging as the Spartans look to score a big rebound.

And, of course, this week will see the Land Grant Trophy up for grabs. Penn State currently retains possession of the Land-Grant Trophy after winning the last two meetings in the series. Penn State will look to have its first three-game winning streak against the Spartans since a run from 2004 through 2006. The last time the game was played in East Lansing with a ranked Michigan State and unranked Penn State was in 2015, with the Spartans blowing away Penn State to the tune of a 55-16 drubbing that piled on at the end for the Spartans.

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