Gameday

4:15? Here’s the logic on a rare kickoff time

TV/Radio commentary

After more than 130 seasons of college football, it's rare to have a remaining first for the Penn State football program but there's one this week -- that odd 4:15 p.m. start time.

Since 2007, when the Big Ten Network came to life, Penn State has been scheduled for five 4 p.m. kickoffs (three at home, one on the road and one at a bowl game), but it never started a game a quarter of an hour later.

Why 4:15 p.m.? Because it works for the Big Ten Network.

It's that simple.

The game at Washington next week has also been set for either 3:30 or 4:15.

Broadcast partners and TV networks drive the schedule, and the 4:15 p.m. start time offers a slightly different stagger on a Saturday. Instead of noon, 3:30 p.m. and

7:30 p.m., this week BTN offers 12:30 p.m. (Michigan at Rutgers), 4:15 p.m. and 8 p.m. (Washington at Nebraska).

With games starting at slightly different times there's a chance they can attract a few more viewers for some portion of the game (ideally the end), and that's always the goal.

It's a slight change of routine, but teams have a vested interest in the process. If the stagger can attract more viewers, that makes the college football broadcasts more valuable for the broadcasters and, potentially, more attractive to advertisers.

If advertisers pay more for the right to be seen on college football games, that revenue eventually trickles back to athletic departments and football programs who need to pay player salaries.

It's a nice little cycle of codependency.

And if it's an inconvenience for fans who might or might not attend a late afternoon game on Halloween, that's not a major consideration for broadcasters.

They're producing live sports-themed TV shows, and the folks in the stadiums are mostly an unpaid studio audience that hopefully adds a little atmosphere and, this Saturday, perhaps a creative costume or two for the broadcast to cut away to going into or coming out of a commercial break.

In that way, the formula is the same no matter what time the game kicks off.

White watching

Everyone at Penn State loves a nighttime White Out, and broadcast partners agree the white pom-poms and all the white look better at night.

It's rare that the game becomes must-see TV in terms of ratings, though, and this year was no exception.

Penn State's three most recent games have been its most-watched of the season -- with the White Out third on the list, drawing 2.92 million viewers on NBC.

Games against Michigan (4.5 million on CBS) and Northwestern (3.45 million on Fox) top the viewership list.

With the five remaining games against teams like Penn State, who are middling at best in the Big Ten Conference, this season could draw the fewest regular season viewers for Nittany Lions games in the past several seasons.

So far, Penn State is at about 12.5 million viewers for its first seven games.

None of the five remaining opponents or matchups will be super-strong TV draws.

In 2026, about 30.5 million viewers watched the regular season, with another 7.6 million for the Pinstripe Bowl vs. Clemson.

In 2025, the regular number was about 29.5 million, with another 10.5 for the conference championship game and then 31.6 million more for the two playoff games.

Notable

– As Penn State works to revamp and revitalize its paid content site, ROAR+, it has made a big financial investment to bring back LaVar Arrington as content creator, consultant and partner. Arrington was a prominent front-facing contributor and interviewer last year, but as Penn State largely backed off stocking the platform with content when James Franklin was fired, Arrington was less visible. The combination of contributors and sometimes unclear missions have hampered ROAR+ and it's far from certain that Arrington's return will make things any better. Or that a large investment in him will help the effort be any more financially viable.

– This could be the first full season since Fox started covering Big Ten football in 2019 that Penn State does not play a game at noon with broadcasters Gus Johsnon and Joel Klatt. Those Big Noon Kickoff games typically feature the best teams in the conference, and Penn State is not playing at that level this season. Many fans may not miss a noon start, but they may miss the relevance of a big game. Penn State did not play a Big Noon game in the coronavirus-shortened 2020 season.

– In case you're not watching, former Penn State coach James Franklin has started 6-2 at Virginia Tech. The Hokes beat Clemson last week and have this week off before a big game Nov. 6 at No. 19 SMU.

≥ Also, former Penn State assistant coach Charles Huff, is at Memphis -- his third school in three seasons as a head coach. He has the Tigers 6-2 entering a game this week against Army. He's also on some early lists of reported candidates for the now vacant job at Maryland.

– Man, things at Oregon look somewhat familiar to what happened last season in Happy Valley, huh?

Sampsell covers the broadcast end of Penn State football for Gameday. He can be reached at stevesampsell@gmail.com