Penn State football's 2024 Big Ten schedule unveiled: Where does USC, Ohio State fit?
Finally, Penn State football won't start its Big Ten season on the road.
Conference officials announced their new, finalized football schedules for 2024, which will accommodate the former Pac-12 additions of USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington.
And Penn State will open the Big Ten portion of its upcoming schedule at home for the first time in nearly a decade. It will play host to Illinois on Sept. 28.
It will be the first time the Lions will start Big Ten play in Beaver Stadium since 2015 against Rutgers. The trend has been a repeated point of displeasure for head coach James Franklin and new athletic director Pat Kraft.
The 2024 Big Ten schedule will be the first with 18 conference teams — ratcheting up competition just as the College Football Playoff expands to 12 teams. To accommodate the new additions, the Big Ten is ditching divisions in favor of the "Flex Protect XVIII" model, which will see every Big Ten team play every team in the conference twice on a home-and-home basis for the duration of the five-year schedule.
Other facets of the new format see each team alternate between five home and away conference games on an annual basis starting in 2024.
But Penn State also will be without a protected rivalry heading into the new format. Without one, it will not be guaranteed to play any conference opponent every single season.
A month ago, Big Ten officials had announced raw versions of upcoming football schedules, including match-ups and home and road designations. The schedule order, though, came on Thursday.
The Penn State highlights include home games against UCLA (Oct. 5), Ohio State (Nov. 2) and Washington (Nov. 9) and its cross-country road trip to play USC (Oct. 12).
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Penn State Big Ten 2024 schedule
∎ Aug. 31, at West Virginia
∎ Sept. 7, BOWLING GREEN
∎ Sept. 21, KENT STATE
∎ Sept. 28, ILLINOIS
∎ Oct. 5, UCLA
∎ Oct. 12, at USC
∎ Oct. 26, at Wisconsin
∎ Nov. 2, OHIO STATE
∎ Nov. 9, WASHINGTON
∎ Nov. 16, at Purdue
∎ Nov. 23, at Minnesota
∎ Nov. 30, MARYLAND
Penn State Big Ten 2025 schedule
Away: Iowa, Michigan State, Ohio State, Rutgers, UCLA
Penn State Big Ten 2026 schedule
∎ Home: Minnesota, Purdue, Rutgers, USC, Wisconsin
∎ Away: Maryland, Michigan, Northwestern, Washington
Penn State Big Ten 2027 schedule
∎ Home: Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Washington
∎ Away: Illinois, Indiana, Oregon, Purdue, Wisconsin
Penn State Big Ten 2028 schedule
Home: Indiana, Iowa, Ohio State, Oregon, UCLA
Away: Michigan State, Nebraska, Rutgers, USC
Frank Bodani covers Penn State football for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. Contact him at fbodani@ydr.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @YDRPennState.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Penn State football: Big Ten unveils schedule with USC, Ohio State
