Kickoff At 12:30 P.M. EDT
Penn State-Illinois Football Game Selected As ESPN2 National Telecast9-26-97
State College, Pa.,-- Penn State's Big Ten Conference opener at Illinois on Saturday, October 4, has been selected by ESPN2 to be televised nationally at 12:30 p.m. EDT. The contest will kick off at 11:30 a.m. CDT in Champaign, Ill.
The telecast will be the fourth announced TV appearance of the season for the Nittany Lions, who have appeared on television 34 of their last 35 games. Penn State will be making its first appearance on ESPN or ESPN2 this season, having been on the all-sports cable network three times in 1996.
Penn State has made two television appearances thus far in 1997, an ABC regional telecast vs. Pittsburgh and last Saturday's national telecast on CBS at Louisville. Previously announced was Penn State's season-ending November 29 clash at Michigan State, which will be an ABC split-national broadcast at 1 p.m.
The Nittany Lions and Illini will be meeting for the first time since State's thrilling 35-31 comeback win in Memorial Stadium in 1994. Penn State leads the series, 5-1, having won the last three contests.
Other Penn State contests may be selected by the networks under the six and 12-day provisions of their contracts with the Big Ten Conference.
Penn State has won 29 of its last 34 television appearances over the past four seasons. The Nittany Lions have made 157 appearances on national networks under Coach Joe Paterno and own an overall record of 107-49-1 in those games.
The Nittany Lions are 3-0 overall and are idle this week before visiting Illinois. Penn State is ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Coaches polls.
Launched in October, 1993, ESPN2 is available in 50 million homes and is the nation's fastest growing cable network this decade.
Christy Rambeau 814-865-7517; 814-863-3428, fax cmr7@psu.edu