Fall semester in Happy Valley means one thing: Saturdays are for Penn State football. The only way to do a Saturday in the fall justice is by spending every waking moment tailgating, screaming your heart out in the student section, and marching home happy with the alma mater still stuck in your head.

With that being said, there comes a time in every student’s fall semester when one just needs a relaxing Saturday at home.

Luckily for us, this Saturday we have a noon kickoff at Minnesota to save us all. The noon away game is something to be cherished. Minnesota fans will be up early to squeeze in every bit of tailgating they can before the game begins at 11 a.m. CDT in Minneapolis. Penn State students, however, will be sound asleep until moments before kickoff, catching up for many sleep deprived weeknights.

With a 51% chance of rain up north on Saturday, Minnesota fans will need to battle the weather conditions. The only thing Nittany Lion fans will need to fight is their roommates for a spot on the couch.

The best thing about noon away kickoffs, you ask? The ability to take back your Saturday.

For those students who have yet to make it through the first round of midterms, the noon away kickoff presents the perfect opportunity to hit the books following the conclusion of the game. If you’re like me, and you weren’t planning on spending much time doing school work on a Saturday either way, you’ve got plenty of options for gameday.

You can watch the game in the comfort of your own home with some friends and play along with the official Onward State drinking game. Or you can go tothe bars and enjoy the game with fellow faithful Penn State fans…while playing the official Onward State drinking game.

Your weekend might even feel twice as long since you will not be losing an entire day to tailgating. Not that spending an entire day eating, drinking, and breathing Penn State football is a loss of a day, anyway.

Ultimately, the game plan for a noon away kickoff is simple. Wake up, relax, cheer on the Nittany Lions, celebrate responsibly, and spend the rest of your Saturday doing as you please (did someone say, “watch more college football”?). Whatever you do, just be grateful that no one is making you wake up early for an 11:00 a.m. home game.