It’s officially a college football Friday for the Nittany Lions, folks.

After a disappointing 24-20 loss to Wisconsin at Beaver Stadium on Saturday, the Nittany Lions are gearing up for a trip to Illinois to face off against Big Ten rival Northwestern.

However, this game will be on Friday night rather than Saturday, which is somewhat unique for college football.

In its history, Penn State has played 94 non-Saturday regular-season games, with a mediocre record of 44-44-8. In Friday games specifically, however, the Nittany Lions have fared pretty well overall, with a record of 17-8-1 all time.

The Nittany Lions have won all three of their Friday night games against Big Ten opponents, including victories against Illinois in 2018, Maryland in 2019, and Michigan State in 2023.

Beyond recent years, much of Penn State football’s history comes from non-Saturday matchups.

Of the 13 games Penn State played during its first four seasons, from 1887 to 1890, eight were not played on Saturdays. Its first non-Saturday game was a tie against Dickinson in 1888, and its first Friday game came a year later: a win over Swarthmore.

The famous Penn State versus Pitt rivalry that many fans want back today was also popularized through non-Saturday games.

From 1904 to 1930, Penn State would travel to Pitt for a Thanksgiving Day matchup. Although Penn State won only nine of these games, it established a strong interstate tradition that was most recently seen in 2019 at Beaver Stadium.

In 1982, the Nittany Lions faced Pitt on a Friday at Beaver Stadium, and their victory propelled them to their first national title later in the season.

The Kickoff Classic games, which began in 1983, were also a major showcase for non-Saturday Penn State football.

The Nittany Lions played in four of these games, described as preseason bowl games at Giants Stadium, and finished with a 2-2 record overall.

The first game was a Monday loss to No. 1 Nebraska, followed by a Wednesday victory over Georgia Tech in 1991, which led to the crowd storming the field, a Sunday victory over USC in 1996, and another Sunday game that ended in a loss to USC in the 2000 rematch.

The Nittany Lions will hope to add to their storied history of non-Saturday games with a win over Northwestern on Friday.

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