The Stripe Out tradition at Penn State burst onto the scene in 2015 when the Nittany Lions hosted Rutgers at Beaver Stadium, marking the first time the Scarlet Knights entered the venue as a Big Ten member.
Record and Resilience
Penn State has compiled a 7‑3 record in Stripe Out games, outscoring opponents by a total of 260‑206, a testament to the ebb and flow of competition over the past decade.
Key moments punctuate the timeline: a 24‑0 shutout of Indiana in 2021 ended a drought of blank‑sheet losses, while a 44‑21 defeat at Ohio State in 2022 snapped a pair of consecutive victories that had stretched back to 2018. The following year, a 24‑15 loss to Michigan unfolded while coach Jim Harbaugh served a league‑mandated suspension for sportsmanship, underscoring the volatility of the series.
Attendance milestones further illustrate the event’s profile; the 2024 showdown with UCLA drew a crowd of 110,856, the largest ever recorded for a Stripe Out, while the 2025 setback against Northwestern concluded Drew Allar’s collegiate career and signaled the end of James Franklin’s 11‑year tenure at the program.
Looking ahead, the Nittany Lions will travel to face Marshall on September 5, 2024, hoping to reverse recent setbacks and rekindle the momentum that defined earlier Stripe Out successes.