Sept. 12, 2007
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., September 12, 2007 -- Penn State's 31-10 thumping of Notre Dame last Saturday earned the fourth-highest audience ever for a Big Ten football game on ESPN, as more than 3.31 million U.S. cable homes tuned in the primetime all-stadium White Out.
The Nittany Lions' fifth consecutive victory, and 24th over their last 29 games, earned a 3.45 HH CVG rating, which ranks No. 10 all-time among Big Ten football games on ESPN.
A Penn State contest owns the top four spots and seven of the top 10 all-time among the highest rated Big Ten football games on ESPN. The Nittany Lions' win over Michigan State during the unbeaten 1994 Big Ten Championship season remains the highest rated Big Ten game on ESPN with a 5.40 rating. The 2005 primetime battle between Penn State and Ohio State earned the conference's second-highest rating (4.91), followed by the 1994 Penn State-Indiana game (4.70), with the 1995 Penn State-Michigan State thriller (4.10) in fourth.
A Penn State game also owns the top four spots and six of the top 10 all-time among the highest viewed Big Ten football games on ESPN. The Nittany Lions' pulsating win over the Buckeyes in 2005 is the conference's highest viewed game on ESPN, as 4.435 million U.S. cable households tuned in. The 1994 Penn State-Michigan game is second with 3.397 million households, followed by the 2005 PSU-MSU contest (3.446 m.) and last week's clash with Notre Dame (3.31 m.).
The Nittany Lions have long been one of college football's premier programs for television networks. Every Nittany Lion game has been televised the past four seasons and 153 of the last 155 Penn State games overall have been on TV. Since 1995, Penn State leads Big Ten schools with 139 regular season telecasts.
Over the past three seasons, Penn State has drawn five of its top six largest home crowds of all-time. A raucous White House throng of 110,078 jammed Beaver Stadium for the win over the Irish, the second-largest crowd in facility history.
Coach Joe Paterno's No. 12 Nittany Lions (2-0) play their final non-conference home game on Saturday, hosting Buffalo (1-1) at 12:00 p.m. The game will air on the Big Ten Network. The game will air on DirecTV (Ch. 218) and DISH Network (Ch. 440, SD; Ch. 9501, HD). Approximately 100 cable providers within the Big Ten footprint are carrying the Big Ten Network, including D&E Communications and Millheim TV Transmission in Central Pennsylvania.
The Nittany Lions' Big Ten opener at Michigan on Sept. 22 will be an ABC national telecast at 3:30 p.m., with Ohio and Chicago receiving the game on ESPN.
All Penn State football and basketball games air on the Penn State Sports Network and www.GoPSUsports.com the official website of Penn State Athletics.