Penn State fans seem to have found their bulletin board material ahead of the Nittany Lions' college football game with Illinois. But is the perceived disrespect a stretch?

Penn State coach James Franklin, after a win over Kent State, said the fans need to bring "White Out ... energy," carefully pausing between the words. "Everybody got me? That can be all your headlines. I'm writing your headlines, because I'm the editor. White Out energy next week. ... It's gonna be big next week. We need this place rocking."

Franklin was being careful not to designate this as Penn State's signature "White Out game," usually one home game a season during which all fans wear white clothing and fill the 110,000-plus capacity Beaver Stadium. The official 2024 White Out game is Nov. 9 vs. Washington.

The X.com account of Penn State's Rivals affiliate on Tuesday posted a 13-second clip of Illinois coach Bret Bielema responding to Franklin's call for "White Out energy" for this matchup at Penn State.

"I don't know if they're going to be in blue or white, or whatever they're going to be in this weekend ... it's probably gonna be one or the other. ..." Bielema said. "They're calling for 'White Out energy,' whatever the hell that means."

In addition to Rivals, Barstool Sports, PennLive.com and other blogging sites created headlines out of Bielema's comments.

While some took Bielema's dismissal as flippant, Illinois fan Robert Rosenthal (@ALionEye) replied to the initial post with an 84-second clip showing the full context of Bielema's remarks.

"Want to see the whole clip? Including the part where he started choking up talking about the respect that former Penn State players have for Sue Paterno?," Rosenthal wrote. "Or was the plan here to take his commentary on the "it's not a White Out, but 'white out energy'" thing and create a story?"

What did Bret Bielema say about Penn State?

In the extended clip, right after the "White Out energy" remark, Bielema says "I would just tell you, the part that really stands out is their fans are intelligent, they've got tradition ... Very similar to Nebraska. They've been doing this a long time, right? Penn State fans are accustomed to great football."

Bielema then shares a story about being in Hawaii and meeting Franco Harris, a Pro Football Hall of Famer and Penn State alum, who had come there to see Sue Paterno, the widow of the late Penn State coach Joe Paterno.

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"For a player to come over and see a coach's wife?" Bielema said while getting choked up. "That's the sign of a program. Huge respect for that. That's pretty cool."

Bielema then shared Rosenthal's post on his own X.com account (@BretBielema) and added more thoughts: "The world we live in today where it’s easy to pick what you want to hear instead of what’s really been said," Bielema wrote. "Respect is awesome because it can never be bought or faked… it can only be earned. This ENTIRE clip should give an understanding of what I think."

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Bielema on Penn State football: Full context of Illinois coach 'white out' comments