A final kick time and television designation are not yet available for next weekend’s Penn State-Illinois clash at Beaver Stadium. It will be in primetime, however. The Nittany Lions’ Big Ten opener, which doubles as Homecoming, will start at either 7 or 7:30 p.m. ET on Sept. 28. The official time, plus a television designation, will be announced this Saturday night.

Head coach James Franklin’s team is nearly a 50-point favorite for this weekend’s matchup with Kent State. It closes out the non-conference portion of the schedule. The Fighting Illini, meanwhile, are 3-0 and have a top-25 showdown with Nebraska this Friday before coming to State College next Saturday. Head coach Bret Bielema’s side already upset Kansas this year and is fresh off a victory over Central Michigan.

“We’re three games into the season and to have the few points we do speaks volumes about the stuff our players and staff have done,” Bielema said after the latest Illinois win. “We have a tremendous task this week. Nebraska plays UNI this week, so we’ll dial into that, we’ll turn the page very quickly tomorrow. Today is Sunday already because we’re on a short week so tomorrow will be Monday and so on. I know the outside world thinks we’re 3-0 but we’re going to try to go 1-0 every week and focus on the task at hand to get that done.”

Penn State is 21-6 all-time against Illinois. The Nittany Lions beat them 30-13 in Champaign a year ago but lost the last meeting in State College 20-18 in a nine overtime clunker.

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Penn State returns to the field against the Golden Flashes after an early season bye week. They are a 48.5-point favorite. Kent State has yet to win this season and just lost 71-0 to Tennessee.

“This time of year is kind of unusual for this early in the season to not be playing,” Franklin said Monday. “Were able to get out and get a ton of recruiting done. Were able to take care of our guys from a rest and recovery standpoint, and we’re able to get some depth guys some work some guys that are a little bit further down the depth chart, which, which was good, and then obviously being on the road recruiting. … [Kent State] has our attention.”

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