The dreadful week has finally come for Penn State football: the bye week.

Some may be curling up in a ball crying knowing there is no football this weekend while others may be celebrating that they finally don’t have to destroy their livers voices on gameday. Regardless, we are all coping with no football this weekend in different ways.

With that being said, there are still some great college football games and other Penn State sports that Nittany Lions fans can root for. We compiled our very own rooting guide for the bye week to help fill the void of a Beaver Stadium-sized hole in our hearts. Let’s get into it, shall we?

Who To Root For

First things first — football may be on a bye, but Penn State still has plenty more teams playing throughout the weekend.

For starters, Penn State women’s ice hockey kicks off the weekend with a battle against Colgate at Pegula Ice Arena at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, October 7. Sticking to the ice, the men’s hockey team begins its season against Canisius shortly after at 7 p.m.

However, maybe you don’t like ice hockey. Well, that’s not a problem. Field hockey will host a tough Iowa team at home at 6 p.m. on Friday. Men’s soccer is also home at Jeffrey Field as it will duke it out against the Michigan State Spartans at 7 p.m. The only team not at home on Friday is women’s volleyball, but you can still catch the squad on the Big Ten Network when the Nittany Lions play Ohio State at 6:30 p.m.

For Saturday, both men’s and women’s ice hockey will complete its series against Colgate and Canisius, respectively. The women will drop the puck at 1 p.m., and the men will begin at 6 p.m. Both games are at Pegula.

Finally, the weekend ends with women’s volleyball and field hockey. Volleyball will get us started when it returns home to Rec Hall for a match against Illinois at 1 p.m. on Sunday, October 9. Field hockey will end Penn State’s busy weekend at home against Lafayette at 1:30 p.m.

Now that we got Penn State sports out of the way, let’s look at football on Saturday.

As much as it pains us to say this, we have to root for our fellow Big Ten teams. Specifically, we’re rooting for Michigan and Ohio State. Michigan should be fine against the Hoosiers, but Michigan State may give the Buckeyes a run for their money. Regardless, we want these teams to win because it will add even more attention and anticipation for the Nittany Lions when they play them later in October. Plus, it will just add to the resume on the year if Penn State manages to beat them. *Fingers crossed.*

We also want to keep rooting for wins for Purdue, Ohio, Auburn, Central Michigan, and Northwestern. The more those teams win, the better Penn State looks for future rankings. They were once our enemies, but now they are our friends.

Who To Root Against

Besides Big Ten teams, which you may or may not agree with, we should really just root against everyone else. We want pure chaos to happen on Saturday for college football, not only for Penn State’s sake, but for the entertainment.

What do we mean by chaos? Well, for starters, we’re looking for Texas A&M to upset Alabama. Next, we definitely want to see our frienemy, Auburn, take down Georgia. Clemson and USC may be heavy favorites, but we could all come together for one weekend and become Boston College and Washington State fans. Texas Tech even looks exciting to root for when it plays Oklahoma State.

We could even throw it back and root for James Franklin’s previous team, Vanderbilt, when it clashes with Ole Miss. The opportunities are endless, but everyone ahead of Penn State and slightly below it is the enemy this weekend.

If you need a concrete list of teams to root against, here you go: Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, USC, Oklahoma State, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Utah, Oregon, Kentucky, NC State, Wake Forest, BYU, TCU, UCLA, Kansas, Kansas State, Washington, Syracuse, Mississippi State, Cincinnati, and LSU. More simply, every top-25 team in the country that isn’t in the Big Ten.

With that being said, take this time to relax your mind and body as we approach some of the most exciting Penn State football games to date. Heck, maybe even get ahead on some school work…or don’t. We don’t care what you decide to do. However, if you need something to get through this bye week, just remember that the next home game is the White Out.

Regardless, enjoy your bye week, folks.