Penn State’s preparations for its contest against Big Ten foe Purdue on Oct. 5 at Beaver Stadium will be given the up-close treatment by HBO, it was learned on Wednesday.

James Franklin’s 14th-ranked Nittany Lions, off this week before visiting Maryland next Friday, will be one of four major college programs to be featured in HBO Sports’ 24/7 College Football series along with Florida, Arizona State and Washington State.

The Penn State segment on HBO will debut at 10 p.m. Oct. 9.

Franklin said Wednesday the decision to appear on HBO, which will focus on the days leading up to the Purdue game, was essentially a no-brainer. The PSU players and coaches have become accustomed to cameras and extra attention as part of The Penn State Football Story’s “Unrivaled” production.

“It’s been a discussion really for the last three years,” Franklin said during a post-practice chat with media that was posted on Penn State Football’s Facebook page.

“After talking to people from other programs that did it, they felt like it was a positive. And then the other thing is for us, with the ‘Unrivaled’ show that we already do, the cameras are already around all the time. Between the coaches and the (players’) leadership council, we didn’t really feel like it would be a whole lot different than what we already do.”

The added exposure should only help Franklin and his coaches, who have built Penn State into one of the top recruiting programs in the country.

“It’s an opportunity to get our program out there on a national scale and allow people to maybe see behind the curtain a little bit,” Franklin said.

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