Earlier this year the Big Ten released its new schedule format for the 2024 and 2025 college football seasons under the expectation it would be playing with 16 members with the additions of USC and UCLA next season. Penn State arguably benefitted uniquely with the new “Flex Protect Model” that neglected to give Penn State a permanent rival as so many other Big Ten schools received in their schedule formats. This was seen widely as a positive development for Penn State, as it gives them the most Big Ten conference scheduling flexibility moving forward without being forced into a so-called rivalry game.
But how much could that change with the latest Big Ten expansion developments? It may not change much, actually.
The Big Ten officially announced the additions of Oregon and Washington as the conference’s 17th and 18th members as the final daggers of the Pac-12 were shoved into the hearts of the west coast conference by the Big Ten and Big 12 (adding Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah on top of already adding Colorado in 2024). The Big Ten confirmed Oregon and Washington will also join the conference in 2024 along with USC and UCLA, which means that 2024-25 schedule format needs to go right back to the drawing board.
But according to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg, the new format may not need a massive overhaul, and that could be good news for Penn State.
“Many of the same principles will apply for the 18-team model, including the goals of protecting key games and rotating the others,” Rittenberg said in a roundtable conference realignment piece from ESPN.
“The initial 2024 and 2025 schedules included 11 protected matchups,” Rittenberg explained, referring to the protected rivalries under the new Big Ten schedule format including matchups like Ohio State-Michigan and Wisconsin-Minnesota, and Nebraska-Iowa. Penn State did not have one of those protected rivalries assigned, much to the relief of many fans. “A 12th is now virtually guaranteed with Washington and Oregon, bitter rivals who have played many memorable games.”
The additions of the Ducks and Huskies won’t be likely to change as far as Penn State’s conference scheduling looks like. And with actual games yet to be locked into certain dates, there is still time for the Big Ten to sort out how the conference schedule will look after working Oregon and Washington (and whomever else may potentially be joining after this) into the equation.
The Big Ten should absolutely lock Oregon and Washington in a protected series and perhaps leave it at that. That would allow Oregon and Washington to work their way onto Penn State’s schedule in the future a little quicker with Penn State’s potential schedule flexibility remaining in place.
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