Penn State-Illinois kick time and TV channel details: When do the Lions meet the Fighting Illini?

STATE COLLEGE — Penn State football is 3-0 so far in September. It aims to finish the first month of the 2024 college football season with a perfect record next Saturday when it hosts for its Big Ten opener. The Homecoming week matchup now has a start time and television station designation. NBC will air the game, and it will start at 7:30 p.m. ET. Previously, the Big Ten said it would be a primetime contest but did not confirm the exact details until late Saturday night.

Illinois is undefeated just as head coach James Franklin's team is. Head coach Bret Bilema's side just beat Nebraska 31-24 in overtime on Friday night. That ensures this will be a top 25 matchup at Beaver Stadium. And, the Fighting Illini, who also beat Kansas, Central Michigan, and Eastern Illinois, could very well be in the top 20.

"I'm very excited for our players, our coaches, and our fan base," Bielema told reporters after the win. Illinois was an underdog in the contest. "To take part in something like tonight, you have two ranked teams playing on a Friday night on national TV, and it played out like that. I give a lot of credit to Nebraska. Matt (Rhule) has obviously done a really good job to build this environment. You don't come to 400 straight sellouts by chance, so there's a lot of people that made tonight happen before this."

Penn State is 3-0 after beating West Virginia, Bowling Green, and Kent State to start the season.

"I thought this week we did what we needed to do, so we've got to take all three of those different experiences and learn from them, and then get better this week, and we've got a really good opponent coming in," Franklin said. "I've got ton of respect for them. It's going to be a heck of a game, but, I do think we've done what we needed to do up to this point. It hasn't always been perfect, but there's a lot of places in the country right now that would love to be 1-0 this week, and 3-0 for the season. So, I'm happy with that, but there'll be a ton of things that we're still going to have to get cleaned up for next week."

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Penn State-Illinois history

The Lions are 21-6 all-time against Illinois. They last lost to the Fighting Illini in 2021, when they were on the wrong end of a 20-18 nine-overtime debacle. Penn State got back on the winning track last year with a 30-13 victory in Champaign, Ill. Both head coaches will preview the game on Monday before they truly get into game preparations.