Penn State announces noon start for Purdue

Penn State football announced that its homecoming game against Purdue on Oct. 15 will begin at noon at Beaver Stadium.

Where the game can be found -- Big Ten Network, ABC, ESPN or ESPN2 -- won't be known until 12 days before the game.

It's the second start time announced by Penn State for the 2011 season. The Big Ten disclosed last week that the Nittany Lions' game at Northwestern on Oct. 22 will kick off at 7 p.m., Eastern and be televised on Big Ten Network.

This will be the first meeting between the Lions and Purdue since 2008, when Penn State captured a 20-6 road win. Both teams are in the Big Ten's "Leaders" Division along with Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State and Wisconsin, and will annually meet starting this season.

The Nittany Lions have won 39 of their 45 homecoming games under Joe Paterno, but one of the six "other" results came last season when Illiinois dealt a 33-13 pasting on its host.

Penn State said the kickoff times for its first two games -- Sept. 3 vs. Indiana State and Sept. 10 vs. Alabama, both at Beaver Stadium -- should be announced by July 1.

--Joe Juliano