Penn State's new Big Ten: Will 2024 home schedule be most dynamic, difficult ever?
Penn State football may have the toughest White Out call yet in 2024: Will it host its iconic spectacle against Ohio State or the USC Trojans?
That's one of the intriguing ramifications of the Big Ten Conference's revamped football formatting, which was announced late Thursday afternoon. The changes include eliminating divisions and many guaranteed, yearly match-ups such as the Nittany Lions vs. Michigan and those Buckeyes.
The moves, including updated schedules for the next two years, were made to accommodate the additions of USC and UCLA. The California teams officially begin Big Ten league play next summer.
Could the changes actually make it easier for the Lions to make the Big Ten Championship Game and qualify for the expanding College Football Playoffs?
Consider: Penn State won't have to contend with Michigan, a back-to-back College Football Playoff team, every year, such as in 2024. They won't play Ohio State in 2025 − the first time the teams haven't met since the Lions joined the league in 1993.
While each member of this expanded, 16-team Big Ten will still play nine conference football games every year, they won't be doing it in the traditional East-West divisional forma. The top two teams in the league standings, overall, now will meet for the title.
This new schedule mandates that each Big Ten program will play every other one at least twice over a four-year period.
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While Big Ten officials have protected 11 yearly rivalry games, Penn State is the only team without one. Iowa has a league-high three protected games − vs. Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin. And so the Lions, from time to time, will miss playing regional opponents Maryland and Rutgers, as well as the high-powered Buckeyes and Wolverines. They also will not battle Michigan State for the Land Grant Trophy each year.
Certainly enough, though, Penn State now features a dynamic home schedule in 2024, one of their most daunting in recent memory: Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State and USC. The Lions will travel to Indiana, Purdue, Rutgers and Wisconsin.
Their 2024 non-conference games include Kent State and Bowling Green at home with a trip to West Virginia.
In 2025, Penn State will face Illinois, Minnesota, Rutgers and UCLA at home. It will go on the road against Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State and USC.
New Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti led Thursday's announcements.
The league already began changing protocols ahead of this week's announcements, in part, because of a new television contract, which includes NBC and CBS. The Big Ten will now feature November night games, which previously had been avoided because of weather and travel concerns.
Penn State's season-finale at Michigan State, for example, has been moved up a day to Black Friday and will be played in prime time at Detroit's indoor Ford Field. It will air on NBC.
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 Twitter @YDRPennState.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Penn State football: New Big Ten with USC, UCLA and less Ohio State
