Here’s what the Big Ten’s new 8-game schedule looks like for Penn State football
Let’s try this again.
With the Big Ten set to begin its football season Oct. 24, a new schedule is in order.
The conference released that schedule Saturday morning, and Penn State football now has its slate of opponents for the 2020 season, including its season opener — on the road against the Indiana Hoosiers.
After dropping from 12 games when the schedule was originally released in August to 10 games, the Nittany Lions — and every other Big Ten team — is now down to eight games after the Big Ten announced its new plan for a return to football. As with the 10-game schedule, this schedule will feature only conference opponents. Penn State will face their six in-division opponents — Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Rutgers — along with two opponents from the West division of the conference.
They lost Illinois and Northwestern as opponents in the transition from 10 opponents to eight, while retaining Iowa and Nebraska as cross-division opponents.
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic initially led the Big Ten to dropping the schedule to 10 and eliminating non-conference games, but the conference decided to cancel the fall season less than a week later. Just over one month after the original cancellation, the Big Ten reversed course and decided to have a fall season, prompting the release of the newest schedule.
The schedule runs from Oct. 24 to Dec. 19 and will conclude with an extra game against the West division team that finishes in the same place as the Nittany Lions — potentially in the Big Ten Championship game.
The Dec. 19 end date will allow for Penn State and the rest of the Big Ten to stay eligible for the College Football Playoff. The playoff committee will release its final rankings Dec. 20
The most notable dates for the Nittany Lions are their matchups with Michigan and Ohio State on Nov. 28 and Oct. 31, respectively.
Penn State football’s 2020 schedule:
Oct. 24 — @ Indiana
Oct. 31 — vs. Ohio State
Nov. 7 — vs. Maryland
Nov. 14 — @ Nebraska
Nov. 21 — vs. Iowa
Nov. 28 — @ Michigan
Dec. 5 — @ Rutgers
Dec. 12 — vs. Michigan State
Dec. 19 — Big Ten Championship game or other cross-division opponent
