Penn State hasn’t had a season-opening true road game this huge in 4 decades, if ever.

Come Saturday, James Franklin will lead his No. 19 Nittany Lions into Camp Randall Stadium to take on No. 12 Wisconsin. It’ll be PSU’s 1st opener with both teams ranked since 2000, and only the 10th one since Joe Paterno’s first game as head coach in 1966.

It’ll be the first time Penn State has faced a ranked conference opponent to start a season, and both teams could erase a lot of doubts and boost a lot of hopes with a victory. Erick Smith of USA Today lists both teams among 8 schools he thinks could crash the CFP party this year.

“You know, whether you like to admit it or not, when the players see that game to open the season, it has an impact,” Franklin said during a recent media session.

So yeah, this is the biggest game on the Big Ten docket in Week 1. Both teams want to prove that 2020 was an aberration, as the Badgers (4-3) and Lions (4-5) are coming off atypical seasons. Win this game, or at least be competitive, and fans can breathe a sigh of relief, blame Covid for last year, and move on.

Penn State’s history in season-opening Top 25 matchups is probably too ancient to matter, but for what it’s worth, the Lions are 6-3 in such games. Five of the 9 were added to the front of the schedule as national TV openers — 4 Kickoff Classics and 1 Pigskin Classic. Here’s the rundown:

  • 2000 — No. 15 USC 29, No. 22 Penn State 5 (Kickoff Classic): The Lions finished 5-7, starting a stretch of 4 losing seasons in a 5-year span.
  • 1999 — No. 3 PSU 41, No. 4 Arizona 7 (Pigskin Classic): In LaVar Arrington’s final season, this victory spring-boarded the Lions to a 9-0 start before a crushing upset loss to Minnesota started a 3-game B1G slide.
  • 1998 — No. 13 PSU 34, No. 21 Southern Miss 6: The 2-time defending C-USA champ Golden Eagles were coming off a 9-3 season and a 41-7 Liberty Bowl victory over Pitt. The Lions didn’t beat another ranked team all season, finishing 9-3 and No. 17.
  • 1996 — No. 11 PSU 24, No. 7 USC 7 (Kickoff Classic): Penn State won its first 5 games and would up 11-2 and No. 7 after losses to Ohio State and Iowa.
  • 1991 — No. 7 PSU 34, No. 8 Georgia 22 (Kickoff Classic): The Lions lost to unranked USC and to No. 2 Miami (26-20) before closing the season with 6 straight wins to finish 11-2 and No. 3 in the country.
  • 1985 — No. 19 PSU 20, No. 7 Maryland 18: Beating the Terps on the road counted for something in those days, as Maryland would go unbeaten in the ACC for a third straight season in ’85, finishing 9-3 and No. 18. The Lions went 11-0, with a bunch of narrow victories, before losing to Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl and finishing No. 3. PSU won its 2nd national title the next year.
  • 1983 — No. 1 Nebraska 44, No. 4 PSU 6 (Kickoff Classic): Penn State was rebuilding rather than reloading in the season after its first national championship. The Lions finished 8-4-1.
  • 1974 — No. 8 PSU 24, No. 20 Stanford 20: This season, the Lions had bizarre, low-scoring losses to unranked teams Navy and N.C. State. They finished 10-2 and No. 7.
  • 1972 — No. 7 Tennessee 28, No. 6 PSU 21: After this road loss, Penn State reeled off 10 straight wins (although only 1 of the opponents was ranked) before losing to No. 2 Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl. The Lions wound up at No. 10.

Add in unranked Penn State’s 2001 opener at home against No. 2 Miami (a 33-7 thrashing), and that’s 10 openers against ranked opponents in 55 years — and 5 of them were add-on “Classics” played at neutral sites. Safe to say, the program has generally preferred to ease into seasons, more often than not at home. The standard model through the years has been to start out with cupcakes such as Navy, Temple, Rutgers, Akron, Colgate, Florida International, Indiana State, Idaho. The Lions have won 45 of their past 55 openers and are 110-22-2 all-time.

Penn State hasn’t faced a ranked opponent to open a season since that 2001 debacle, so clearly Franklin is entering uncharted territory in his first trip to Madison as coach of the Lions. Penn State hasn’t entered an opponent’s stadium for an opener with this much at stake in 36 years. Beyond that, you’d have to go back 49 years.

Playing just their 4th true road opener since 1994 and 31st since 1887, the Lions will enter Camp Randall for the noon kickoff as 4.5-point underdogs. But oddsmakers and fans will have a much better handle on both teams once the turf’s rubber pellets settle Saturday afternoon.

With a positive outcome, Penn State could erase a lot of worries about the mental toughness of up-and-down 3rd-year starting quarterback Sean Clifford and the physical toughness of its defense. It could sell fans on new OC Mike Yurcich’s scheme, supposedly a throwback to Joe Moorhead’s wide-open attack of 2016-17. And it could re-establish the Lions as the clear No. 2 team in the conference, a status they enjoyed before last year’s 0-5 start.

“The 2016 offense was great, but it took a few weeks for that to happen,” Franklin said. “So, what’s your realistic expectation for what this offense could be early versus middle and late in season? Well … based on our schedule, it better be early, right? I think everybody’s aware of that.”

With a win, Penn State would improve to 20-11 all-time in road openers, and Franklin would improve to 3-0 against Paul Chryst and Wisconsin. It would be the Badgers’ first opening loss in their own stadium since 1995.

If the Lions open with a loss to a B1G team on the road for a second straight year, bad karma will abound. Every PSU fan remembers all too well what happened to their team’s collective psyche after 2020’s opening overtime loss at Indiana.