ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit on returning to Penn State for Whiteout: 'I think it’s going to be electric'

STATE COLLEGE — ESPN commentator Kirk Herbstreit has been a vocal advocate of the Penn State Whiteout as one of the best environments in all of college football. And the longtime analyst has the chance to experience it yet again this weekend when he calls Saturday night’s game between No. 10 Penn State and No. 22 Auburn on ABC.

While standing next to ESPN’s “College GameDay” set on the Old Main lawn on Friday afternoon, Herbstreit recounted broadcasting last season’s game between Penn State and Ohio State at Beaver Stadium. In a normal season, there likely would have been more than 107,000 fans clad in white in the stands. Instead, it was only family members because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“It was like a high school game,” Herbstreit said. “Moms and dads on one side and moms and dads on the other side, and hearing a few claps after a big play. I think of all the games I called, this one last year with Ohio State was probably a microcosm of the entire year, and now to come back and I know it’s not back to normal yet, but just to have a full stadium, I think it’s going to be electric.

“Watching the (Ball State) game felt like Michigan was there, Ohio State was there. I can’t imagine what this game is going to be like. A lot of pent up energy. I think a lot of people were excited to get going.”

College GameDay’s return to the Penn State campus means that the festivities will start early Saturday with the pregame show set to begin broadcasting at 9 a.m. on ESPN with kickoff between Penn State and Auburn not scheduled until 7:30 p.m.

Here are Herbstreit’s full comments:

There’s so many great traditions that go back decades and decades, so I don’t know if it’s a tradition, I just think it’s something I look forward to every year. When the games get ready, first thing I ask is, ‘Who’s the Whiteout? Which games are we doing? Can’t wait to get there’ kind of thing. So when I found out it was Auburn — because it’s always Ohio State or Michigan — when I found out it was Auburn, right away I was looking at other games that might be that week and, ‘Are we going to be there with GameDay? ‘Am I going to call the game?’ because it is one of my favorite stops.

I’m not saying that as a biased Penn State fan. I go to Eugene, Oregon. I go to Tallahassee. I go to Austin, Texas. I go to Baton Rouge. I go to Gainesville. I go to Columbus. I go everywhere. I’m just telling you what I see. I’m not playing favorites. I’m just being honest. It’s the choreography, it’s the sense of community.

The entire stadium — like other schools, they do a ‘Maize Out’ or a ‘Black Out’ or whatever, and like, 85, 90% of the people participate. This is like, I don’t know how they do it. I still don’t know. I don’t know if everyone is handed a t-shirt, I don’t get it. But there isn’t one person not wearing white, and then all the singing that they do. It’s just so cool. It’s what makes college football college football, and it’s 100,000 people doing it.

So Auburn fans, they’ve been in loud stadiums, they’ve been in louder stadiums. They go to Baton Rouge, they go to Bryant-Denny, they’ve been in loud stadiums. I think what Auburn fans are going to appreciate when they leave is it was loud, but it was so cool to be a part of the Whiteout. That’s what I think they’ll see. They’ve been — Auburn’s not going to be intimidated by the noise. This is what they do. But I just think it’s the choreography and the sense of community that makes it really cool.