It's Penn State-Nevada week: Game time, spread, channel, streaming info, storylines, more

Penn State opens its 139th college football season this Saturday with an opponent it has never faced before. Head coach James Franklin’s 12th season in State College kicks off with a visit from Nevada. The Wolfpack will be a heavy underdog after traveling cross country for the first game in an under-renovation Beaver Stadium.

“I do think that we’re a tougher team,” Wolfpack coach Jeff Choate said coming out of camp, per the Nevada Sports Network. “I think we play a physical brand of football. There’s real contact out there. And that’s kind of been a theme that I felt like has played out throughout fall camp is we’ve had a lot of really physical practices.”

Get ready for Lions-Wolfpack with our early game preview.

Time and TV info

Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on Aug. 30. CBS will televise the game. The network’s top crew of Brad Nessler (play-by-play), Gary Danielson (color commentary), and Jenny Dell (sideline reporter) will be on the call. 

What is the Penn State-Nevada spread?

Penn State is a 45.5-point favorite at BetMGM. The over/under betting total is 57.5 points.

Game week schedule for the Lions

Penn State head coach James Franklin will kick off game week with a news conference at Noon ET. He will speak from the media room at Beaver Stadium, and you’ll be able to watch it on the Blue-White Illustrated YouTube channel by 12:45 if you click here.

Tuesday should bring with it some player interviews with reporters via ZOOM. Wednesday will feature some, as well, before a practice viewing availability for the media, followed by Franklin and some players speaking in the evening. Thursday features an assistant coach media call and Franklin’s weekly radio show. Then, the talking is done until after the game.

What’s up with Nevada?

The Wolfpack has 50-plus new players on their roster. It means Choate, the second-year head coach, has spent all of spring ball and preseason camp settling position battles. To start game week, most are not publicly decided. But we do expect Nevada to start former high-profile recruit turned journeyman quarterback Chubba Purdy. The defense returns just one starter — senior defensive tackle Thomas Witte. And, the team’s punter is a 27-year-old Australian who came to the U.S. via the same training program as Riley Thompson.

Beyond all of that, it’s hard to know much about the Wolfpack. Choate will be learning along with the rest of us exactly what he has. Unfortunately for him, however, he’ll be doing so opposite a preseason top-three team.

Weather report

A picture-perfect day appears to be on tap. Weather.com says the high will be in the upper 70s. Wind nor rain appear to be an issue.

“Intervals of clouds and sunshine. High 77F. Winds light and variable,” Weather.com writes.

Early Penn State-Nevada storylines

–Let’s start with the major off-field one: Will everything truly be ready to roll at Beaver Stadium? Our expectation is that it will be. But, still, this is the first time tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people will be venturing into a renovated space that features new things that fans aren’t familiar with, like temporary seating, new walkways, and some gate changes. It’ll be interesting to see how everything plays out.

–Now let’s move on to the obvious on-field one: How will the receivers look? The transfers are who everyone will want to see either on the field or on their TV, of course, but the group at large will be interesting to watch, especially if younger guys get in later in the game.

–Can Nevada hang around at all? They probably do have more talent than they did a year ago. It’s still nowhere close to what the Lions have, of course.

–What’s your top storyline to start the week? Tell us inside The Lions Den forum!