Come to Beaver Stadium, but wear whatever color you want: There is no White House game scheduled for the 2010 Penn State football season.
A ticket misprint showed the September 25 Penn State v. Temple game as the White House game for 2010.
But a White House game was never actually scheduled for the 2010 football season, Paternoville President Alex Cohen said.
"Honestly, it was just a ticket misprint," Cohen (senior-marketing) said. "There was no White House planned for this year."
Even with no White House game scheduled, fans should still get excited and can still wear white to the game, Associate Athletic Director Greg Myford said.
The White House game is different from a Whiteout, Cohen said. In a White House game, the entirety of Beaver Stadium is encouraged to dress in all white for the game -- not just the student section, Cohen said.
The physical football tickets depict the September 25 game as being the "Whitehouse, All-University, and Varsity 'S' Day."
The word "Whitehouse" printed on the ticket, including the words "Everyone wear white!" was a misprint, Cohen said.
The Penn State v. Temple game is still going to be the All-University Day and Varsity "S" Day, Myford said.
Even without the White House taking place on the Temple game, regular admission tickets will be made available to purchase for students at Commonwealth Campuses as part of All-University Day, when each commonwealth campus is acknowledged on the field.
Also, the students wearing different-colored shirts in the Varsity "S" Zone will depict a giant letter 'S' in the senior section of the stadium.
The decision to drop the White House game from the 2010 football schedule was made to increase the significance of the White House event and preserve the exciting atmosphere on game day, Myford said
"The game has to have significance and the date has to work," Myford said. "There's a number of factors that go into it."
In a meeting earlier this year, Paternoville representatives met with the athletic department to discuss the possibility of a White House game, but decided not to have a White House event for 2010, Cohen said.
"The Athletic Department should be commended for making the decision not just as the Penn State Athletic Department, but as Penn State," Cohen said. "They always value our input as students -- they want to have everybody's opinion."
The White House printing error was a simple oversight, Paternoville Vice President John Tecce said.
"It was a mistake," Tecce (junior-marketing) said. "The last two White House games have actually been on that same weekend vs. Iowa and Illinois, so it's easy to see how they made that mistake," Tecce said.
Students should still be excited for the 2010 football season and the events planned, including the student Whiteout games, Cohen said. One potential Whiteout includes the primetime game against Michigan, Cohen said.
"It's during Halloween weekend, there definitely will be a wild crowd that night," Cohen said. "The student section will be in full force that night."
With no White House game scheduled for 2010, the next White House game is tentatively scheduled for the 2011 match-up between Penn State and Alabama.
"As far as all-stadium White House, we've been targeting 2011 for that in order for the all-stadium White House to take hold and have the effect we want it to have," Myford said.
The need to keep the White House game special was one of the reasons the Athletic Department chose to not include the event during the 2010 football season, Myford said. Making the event a strong Penn State tradition was also important to Cohen.
"We always have a great home stadium -- one of the greatest atmospheres in college football," Cohen said. "It's one of those traditions that a lot of people agree should be saved for certain games and certain opponents."
