There aren't many firsts these days for the Penn State football program.
After all, the Nittany Lions have been playing football for over a century and have been doing so quite successfully for more than a half century now.
But when they kick off the Outback Bowl on Jan. 1, it'll mark the first time that Penn State has every played a game a game the Arkansas Razorbacks. The face is stunning for a number of reasons, foremost of them being that both programs have had marked success.
Penn State ranks ninth all-time with a .687 win percentage according to Winsipedia, while the Hogs are no slouches in their own right, checking in at No. 36 all-time. The two programs have had success at overlapping times, too, with Arkansas' best years coming from the 1960s to the late 1980s under Frank Broyles, Lou Holtz and Ken Hatfield.
Despite the successes, the two programs never crossed paths. That is, until this season.
The game marks just the second time since the turn of the century that Penn State will have faced a new Power Five opponent. The first of those occurrences came in 2008 at Beaver Stadium when the Nittany Lions walloped a then-floundering Oregon State program, 48-14.
The victory over the Beavers continued a recent trend of success for Penn State against new opponents from Power Five conferences. They had three such games in a span of five seasons between 1995-1999, all of which were victories.
Texas Tech was first team to fall victim to the Nittany Lions, with Penn State topping the Red Raiders 24-23 in Beaver Stadium. At the time, Texas Tech was lead by head coach Spike Dykes. Dykes has the second-most wins in Texas Tech history and is the father of new TCU head coach, Sonny Dykes.
While Penn State began that season with a new opponent, it would end it the same way as the Nittany Lions squared off with Auburn in the 1996 edition of the Outback Bowl. The Nittany Lions pasted the then Terry Bowden-led Tigers 43-14 in that contest, with Auburn getting even in the 2003 Capital One Bowl with a 13-9 victory. Of course, those two teams met earlier this season with Penn State getting the upper hand and the Nittany Lions will head to Jordan-Hare Stadium for the reverse end of the series in 2022.
The last of the three new Power Five opponents between 1995-1999 was the Arizona WIldcats, who came to Happy Valley for the Pigskin Classic to kick off the 1999 season with a battle of top-five teams. The Nittany Lions rolled to a 41-7 victory in that behind a huge day for Chafie Fields.
If Penn State is able to topple the Hogs in Tampa, it will continue a five-game winning streak against new foes from Power Five conferences.
The Nittany Lions were scheduled to start yet another of new series' in 2020 with the front end of a home-and-home against Virginia Tech, but COVID-19 put an end to those plans. There are currently no new Power Five opponents set for any of Penn State's future schedules, which can be found here.
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