Penn State-Delaware: Start time, channel, how to watch and stream

No. 7 Penn State will take on Delaware on Saturday, but you won’t be able to find the game on TV Saturday afternoon.

Instead, the Nittany Lions and the Blue Hens will face off exclusively on Peacock, NBC’s subscription streaming service, as part of the network’s deal to carry Big Ten games.

Penn State is coming off a rout of West Virginia, where sophomore quarterback Drew Allar starred in his first start for the Nittany Lions, throwing for 325 yards and three touchdowns. Two of those went to speedy wide receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith, whose lived up to his “Big Play ‘Dre” nickname.

“That’s the Drew we saw in preseason camp. That’s the Drew we saw in limited reps last year,” Penn State head coach James Franklin told reporters. “He was extremely poised.”

Delaware is ranked No. 19 in the FCS poll, and has at least one notable player on their roster — senior defensive back Keeno Arrington, the son of former NFL star and Penn State legend LaVar Arrington.

Arrington went by his stepfather’s last name, Holmes, during high school, where he became a star basketball player in western Pennsylvania. But he turned to football when the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the basketball season, went to Lackawanna Junior College in 2021, and switched his last name back to Arrington after he and his father repaired their relationship after not speaking to one another for eight years, according to the News Journal. He committed to the Blue Hens in January.

Here’s everything you need to know to watch or stream the Nittany Lions’ game:

Saturday’s Penn State-Delaware game will stream exclusively on Peacock beginning at noon Eastern.

Calling the game will be Brendan Burke, in his first season broadcasting college football games for NBC. Joining him in the booth is Michael Robinson, a former Penn State quarterback who led the Nittany Lions to a Big Ten championship in 2005. Zora Stephenson will report from the sidelines at Beaver Stadium.

Burke, the TV voice of the New York Islanders on the MSG Network, also is the play-by-play announcer for MLB games this season on Peacock (he called last Sunday’s Phillies-Brewers game alongside NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Ben Davis). Burke said his approach to calling games on Peacock isn’t much different than calling games on TV, aside from assuming fans seeking out a streaming game have more knowledge than the average TV viewer just flipping through channels.

The difference for Burke on Saturday will be how many fans are in the stands at Beaver Stadium.

“I’m excited. I haven’t done it in a few years, and I’m really excited to get back into college football,” Burke told The Inquirer. “To come to a school where literally 100,000 people are going to come watch a game, there’s not many things ... that you get to experience like that.”

Regardless of his excitement level, Burke isn’t expecting Saturday’s game to be a nailbiter.

“Let’s be honest, this is not your typical FBS-FCS matchup — this is an elite Power 5 team taking on an FCS school,” Burke said. “It shouldn’t be close.”

» READ MORE: Penn State finds improvement in a few spots as it rolls up its sleeves to face FCS foe Delaware

Unfortunately, no. The only place to watch Saturday’s game between Penn State and Delaware is to stream it on Peacock.

It’s one of nine Big Ten games that will stream exclusively on the streaming platform this season.

If you don’t feel like shelling out the $5.99 a month for Peacock, you can tune into 1210 WPHT. Calling the game on the radio will be longtime play-by-play announcer Steve Jones, joined by NFL Hall of Famer and former Nittany Lions linebacker Jack Ham.

Saturday’s game will mark the first time Penn State has ever taken the football field against Delaware, becoming the Nittany Lions 163rd opponent.

It’s part of a two-game series that will include a second game in 2027 at Beaver Stadium. Delaware has never faced a team ranked as high as No. 7 Penn State, and enter the game heavy underdogs.

Big Ten teams were banned from playing non-FBS opponents in 2015, but the conference loosened its rules in 2017 to permit schools to schedule games against FCS opponents during years where just four of their nine conference games are at home.

Penn State defeated Villanova in 2021, and the two will face one another again in 2025. Overall, Penn State is 116-79-12 against current FCS schools.

A new clock rule introduced by the NCAA this season isn’t winning over many college football coaches.

Under the new rule, the game clock continues to run after first downs (just like the NFL), except during the last two minutes of each half. Previously, the game clock pauses after every first down.

The change is aimed at reducing the number of plays per game, which officials have said should increase the pace and reduce the chance of injury.

“In FBS, we averaged 178 plays per game last year. If you look at the NFL, they averaged 151 plays per game — so, that’s a pretty significant difference,” National coordinator of officials Steve Shaw told reporters last month, according to The Athletic.

Penn State head coach James Franklin estimated that each team lost about five plays each last weekend compared to last year’s average.

“I think for the average football fan or person, you probably don’t notice it a whole lot,” Franklin told reporters. “For us, it did feel, I know this sounds crazy, but it did feel dramatically shorter, especially seeing the first half seem to fly by.”

The NCAA also made two less-impactful changes to its clock rules ahead of the season — teams can no longer call consecutive timeouts and penalties no longer extend the first and third quarters.

Penn fans have to wait another week for their season opener. The Quakers will travel to central New York to take on Colgate on Sept. 16 (noon, ESPN+).

Here are the Philly-area schools playing this weekend:

» READ MORE: Temple could make a football statement under the lights Saturday against Rutgers. Here’s how.