Penn State's James Franklin Issues a 'White Out' Challenge for Oregon Game

Franklin wants Nittany Lions fans "screaming a collective battle cry" against the Ducks.

Penn State students sing along to a song during the Nittany Lions' White Out football game against Iowa. | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK

Penn State coach James Franklin seldom misses an opportunity to lean into the home-field advantage, especially for a "White Out" game at Beaver Stadium. With Oregon visiting Penn State on Saturday for the annual college football spectacle, Franklin took that a step further.

"We need to be on our feet screaming a collective battle cry in the stadium," Franklin said Monday at his weekly press conference. "So we're going to need everybody's help."

No. 3 Penn State hosts No. 6 Oregon for a rare matchup of Associated Press top-10 teams in the "White Out." Penn State-Oregon marks just the second time in White Out history that both teams are ranked in the AP top 10. The first was in 2018, when No. 4 Ohio State scored two touchdowns in the final 7 minutes for a 27-26 win over the ninth-ranked Nittany Lions.

I'm expecting this to be an environment like no one has ever seen.

Penn State coach James Frankin

NEXT STOP: HAPPY VALLEY 👀

See you next Saturday for a top-10 matchup between Oregon and Penn State 🍿 pic.twitter.com/e4Gf5RFKka

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) September 20, 2025

Penn State announced Sunday that ESPN College GameDay will broadcast from campus before the game, and the program will seek to break the single-game Beaver Stadium attendance record of 111,030, set last year against Ohio State. So Franklin began setting the stage early Monday during his weekly press conference.

"Obviously we need this place rocking," Franklin said, "need to have a distinct home-field advantage. We always do, but I'm expecting this to be an environment like no one has ever seen. Urban Meyer always has discussions and debates on what's the what's the hardest place to play in college football. I think he usually says between Penn State White Out at night and and an LSU night game. So we want to make it clearly obvious to everybody what is the most challenging and difficult environment to play in all of sports, let alone college football."

RELATED: Where Penn State ranks in the Week 5 college football polls

Oregon (4-0) is visiting Penn State for the first time since 1964, and few in the program have any first-hand experience with a White Out. Ducks special teams coordinator Joe Lorig does, having spent three seasons as Penn State's coordinator from 2019-21.

Meanwhile, Oregon quarterback Dante Moore said he planned to call former Oregon quarterback Bo Nix about the White Out. Nix played in the 2021 White Out when he was with Auburn. Coincidentally, Oregon also announced a new shoe this week, the Mummy Duck Vaporposite made by Nike, that glows in the dark.

Mummy mode.

Presenting the @Nike Mummy Duck Vaporposite cleat. Created exclusively for Oregon Football. #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/cRqFxhRL4b

— Oregon Football (@oregonfootball) September 21, 2025

"It’s something that we’ve had circled on our schedule for a long time," Oregon linebacker Bryce Boettcher said this summer at Big Ten Football Media Days. "Every game’s a big game, but obviously I’d be lying if I said that one isn't maybe a little bit bigger."

RELATED: Three things we know about Penn State heading into the Oregon game

Penn State looking for a rare top-10 win

Penn State Nittany Lions coach James Franklin watches the replay of the final play of the game gainst the Villanova Wildcats at Beaver Stadium. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

The primary narrative driving Penn State's season lands directly at Beaver Stadium on Saturday. Franklin's record at Penn State against teams ranked in the AP top 10 is 4-19, The Nittany Lions went 1-3 against top-10 teams last season, beating then-No. 8 Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.

The Nittany Lions have not beaten a top-10 team at home since their win over second-ranked Ohio State in 2016. Franklin said that Penn State is in "total control" of that narrative this season.

"I'm extremely proud and I'm extremely confident, but again, there is complete recognition and embracing what we got to do and where we got to go," Franklin said before the season. "And the best part about it is, we're in total control of it, right? If we want the narrative to change, we've got an opportunity to change it. We want people to shut up? We can shut them up real easy."

Penn State’s James Franklin answered several questions at Big Ten Media Days about the “narrative” following his team.

“If we want the narrative to change, we’ve got an opportunity to change it.” pic.twitter.com/13PMfaDsLw

— Mark Wogenrich (@MarkWogenrich) July 24, 2025

However, there's a group Penn State doesn't want to shut up: those Nittany Lions fans attending Saturday's game vs. Oregon.

"I know a good portion of our fans like to sit down, except for third downs and red zone and what they consider critical times of the game," Frankin said. "But I'm challenging everybody, this is a four-quarter, one play at a time, first, second down, third down, fourth down, punts, kickoff coverage that we need to be on our feet screaming a collective battle cry in the stadium."

Noteworthy about the Nittany Lions

Penn State Nittany Lions running back Kaytron Allen (13) runs for a touchdown against the Villanova Wildcats at Beaver Stadium. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

• Franklin said that Penn State got through the first three games and the bye week in a "pretty good place" regarding injuries. Penn State has not reported any significant long-term injuries during the regular season

• Franklin briefly touched on Virginia Tech's firing of Brent Pry after an 0-3 start. Pry coached with Franklin at both Vanderbilt and Penn State, and their families remain close. "Brent is resilient and he’s a darn good football coach and he’ll bounce back as I know he will," Franklin said.