Penn State football featured in multiple most likely Big Ten Championship Game matchups

It’s only May, but it’s never too early to start thinking about the conference title chase. The race to the top of the Big Ten will look wildly different in 2024; the league has expanded to 18 schools, gone are the East and West divisions, and the conference’s top two teams, regardless of location, will now square off in Indianapolis. Does this breathe new life into the title hopes of James Franklin and Penn State football? Chip Patterson says yes. The CBS Sports college football analyst broke down his five most likely Big Ten Championship Game matchups this week, including the Nittany Lions in two of his five plausible outcomes.

Penn State football included in two of five most likely Big Ten Championship Game contests

On Sunday, Chip Patterson of CBS Sports and the Cover 3 podcast dissected the five most possible Big Ten Championship Game scenarios for the 2024 season. This is no easy task with the addition of four programs and a new division-less system, making the outcome tree even more unmanageable than before.

However, Patterson does like the odds of seeing Penn State football in Indianapolis come December. Patterson sees James Franklin and the Nittany Lions making their first trip to the Big Ten Championship Game since 2016 in two potential ways:

Oregon vs Penn State

His fourth most likely matchup, Patterson could see Penn State taking on Big Ten newcomer Oregon in the Ducks’ inaugural season in the conference.

“The Ducks have the second-best odds to win the Big Ten, so it’s clearly in bounds to include them in multiple potential matchups,” Patterson writes. “But gaming out their path reveals a tumultuous November with the title race on the line nearly every week. Oregon plays Michigan (Nov. 2) and Wisconsin (Nov. 16) on the road in the final four weeks before the regular-season finale at home against rival Washington (Nov. 30).

“Ohio State is on Oregon’s schedule as well, but Penn State is not. The Nittany Lions, in fact, have a chance to really surge in Year 2 of Drew Allar as the full-time starting quarterback, maintaining a high talent level on the roster and facing a schedule that does not include Michigan or Oregon.”

The Nittany Lions have not faced off against the Ducks since the famous Rose Bowl Game for the 1994 season, so this matchup would draw much intrigue.

Ohio State vs Penn State

Of course, the Buckeyes are also among the heavy favorites to make a run at the conference title. Patterson sees a rematch of the November 2 matchup in Beaver Stadium as the second most likely outcome for the 2024 Big Ten Championship Game, due to how each team finishes out the year.

“An Ohio State-Penn State rematch would carry a bit less rivalry drama but more intrigue; the two teams will play in Happy Valley on Nov. 2 before, in this hypothetical, squaring off in Indianapolis on Dec. 7,” he writes. “What makes this rematch scenario seem plausible is the fact that both teams have a path to win out after the first game, so the loser on Nov. 2 could rebound and — with some help elsewhere — make it back into the top two of the Big Ten standings.

“If, for example, Penn State knocks off Ohio State in the regular-season meeting, the Buckeyes would then get a run of games in which they will be heavy favorites (Purdue, Northwestern, Indiana) before hosting rival Michigan in a regular-season finale that could hold key tiebreaker implications. The Nittany Lions don’t have as many heavy hitters on the back end of the schedule for tiebreakers, but a slate of Washington, Purdue, Minnesota, and Maryland should be manageable for a group that we expect to be among the 10 best teams in the country heading into the season.”

Of course, Penn State has not knocked off Ohio State since the last time it made a run to the conference title game in 2016. In this scenario, James Franklin would have to find a way to accomplish a feat he’s only done once in his career, twice in a season.