OK, let’s try this again! The Big Ten previously showed off its conference opponent lineup for the 2024 and 2025 seasons which included future members USC and UCLA. But then the conference later invited and accepted Oregon and Washington to become members at the same time. Naturally, this meant the conference scheduling format needed to be revised one more time to include the Ducks and Huskies along with the Trojans and Bruins.
And so on Thursday, the Big Ten revealed its freshly updated future conference schedule formats to run from 2024 through 2028. Staying true t its original mission, the new Big Ten conference schedule format will include a combination of protected and rotaing opponents for each of the 18 Big Ten members in a nine-game conference schedule. There will be no divisions and every school will face every other conference opponent at least twice within the four-year period.
Penn State will remain the only Big Ten school without a protected guaranteed opponent in the Big Ten’s format, thus allowing Penn State to have the most schedule flexibility in the conference. Every other member of the Big Ten will have at least one protected rivalry matchup such as Ohio State vs. Michigan, USC vs. UCLA, or Oregon vs. Washington. Maryland and Rutgers will be one protected matchup, as will Michigan State’s rivalry with Michigan.
While the exact dates of each future Big Ten schedule will be mapped out later, we now know which games Penn State will play at home and which will be on the road for the 2024 through 2028 seasons.