With big changes on the horizon for the Big Ten with the upcoming additions of USC and UCLA, many have been wondering just how the Big Ten schedule will look moving forward. On Thursday, we were given the answers for how things will look for at least the first two years in a 16-team Big Ten, and it will present some interesting scheduling tidbits for Penn State.
For starters, the Big Ten scrapped the divisional format and kept a nine-game conference schedule. The Big Ten schedule will now have a two-year rotation where every Big Ten member will be given three “two-way” opponents guaranteed to be played each of those two years. For Penn State, those three two-way games will be played against Michigan State, Rutgers, and USC for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
The Big Ten also protected natural rivalries that will be locked in every season beyond the two-year rotation beginning in 2024, but Penn State is the only school without a protected rivalry game on an annual basis, allowing a bit more scheduling variety and flexibility for the Nittany Lions without a true legitimate rivalry game compared to other schools (Iowa has three protected rivalry games, by contrast).
Penn State is the only school without a protected rivalry game in the Big Ten. That allows for more scheduling flexibility. In contrast, all three of Iowa's two-way games are protected rivalry games. pic.twitter.com/RSEank87rk
— Kevin McGuire (@KevinOnCFB) June 8, 2023
Before we dig more into the Big Ten scheduling tidbits, here is who Penn State will be playing at home and on the road for the 2024 and 2025 seasons:
- 2024 home: Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, USC
- 2024 away: Indiana, Purdue, Rutgers, Wisconsin
- 2025 home: Illinois, Minnesota, Rutgers, UCLA
- 2025 away: Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, USC
That 2024 schedule looks to be pretty entertaining (don’t forget Penn State also plays a road game at West Virginia in 2024 as well), doesn’t it?
The Big Ten championship game will be played with the top two teams in the overall Big Ten standings getting a spot in the championship game. The Big Ten will reveal updated tiebreakers later. The exact dates for the 2024 and 2025 games will also be released at a later date.
The Big Ten conference schedule took measures to protect historic rivalries and find as much balance in the amount of travel for every member of the conference with the additions of the two California programs. And, of course, the balance and maximization of television inventory came into play as well. For Penn State, games against USC in 2024 and 2025 and Ohio State in 2024 and Michigan in 2025 gives the Nittany Lions two potential blockbuster games to look forward to. Penn State also gets a crack at UCLA at home in 2025 and at Wisconsin in 2024 for some fun matchups, potentially.
