After scoring a surprising upset of Ohio State in 2016 with a blocked field goal returned for a game-winning touchdown, Penn State changed the entire outlook of the Big Ten championship race. Michigan, who had dominated Penn State earlier in the season, took the inside track to the East Division race but stumbled a few weeks later against Iowa, leading to Penn State having a path to its first Big Ten championship game appearance. As the Nittany Lions closed out its regular season without a loss, and with Ohio State handing Michigan a second conference loss, the Nittany Lions advanced to Indianapolis as the East Division champion thanks to their head-to-head upset of the Buckeyes.
Penn State faced Wisconsin, the Big Ten’s West Division champion, with a spot in the Rose Bowl up for grabs. Penn State was an underdog against the Badgers, who wee ranked just ahead of the Nittany Lions in the College Football Playoff rankings going into the game behind a strong defense and running game. And to their credit, Wisconsin flexed early on Penn State with their ground attack and some big plays from the defense. Penn State wasn’t rattled, however, and stormed back and came out on top of a back-and-forth game in the second half with [autotag]Trace McSorley[/autotag] and [autotag]Saquon Barkley[/autotag] electrifying the offense.
Here is a look at some of the images from Penn State’s first Big Ten championship game.