Big Ten conference opponents for future years to be revealed today
- Thread starter doctornick
- Start date
Obviously, these are just conference games and sound like it will not include dates yet - hopefully the 2024 schedule can come out soon so people can make plans.
Interesting that they are doing 5 years. That suggests to me that they are keeping the "protected" games - including as many as 3 for Iowa - because it would take 5 years to cycle through home and away for all teams with a 9 game conference schedule if some teams have 3 protected games.
Interesting that they are doing 5 years. That suggests to me that they are keeping the "protected" games - including as many as 3 for Iowa - because it would take 5 years to cycle through home and away for all teams with a 9 game conference schedule if some teams have 3 protected games.
Big Ten Conference Announces Future Football Schedule Formats for 2024-28
Big Ten Conference Announces Future Football Schedule Formats for 2024-28
So 9 in-conference games over that 5 year span
Big Ten Conference Announces Future Football Schedule Formats for 2024-28
Big Ten Conference Announces Future Football Schedule Formats for 2024-28bigten.org
Tough schedule next year...but, the expanded playoff gives us the opportunity to possibly drop two games with that slate and still have a legit shot.
so either tOSU or Washington for the Whiteout game next year. I'm guessing it will be the Huskies relatively early in the season (end of Sept/early October)
Naturally. The Big Ten is definitely not going to 10 games until (1) the SEC moves to at least 9 conference games and (2) the networks pony up a bunch more money to get more conference games.
Bowling Green
Kent State
Illinois
Maryland
Ohio State
UCLA
Washington
It's not bad.
More importantly, the 2025 home schedule doesn't outright blow the way it was going to originally:
Nevada
Villanova
Indiana
Nebraska
Northwestern
Oregon
+ one OOC likely cupcake
It's not great but it's better than before where UCLA was probably the "best" opponent.
I’ll take it. I like how USC, UCLA, Washington, and Oregon are being worked into PSU’s schedule quickly.
2026 home schedule is pretty bad, (Minnesota, Purdue, Rutgers, USC, Wisconsin).
2028 schedule is a bear.
Home-
-Indiana
-Iowa
-Ohio State
-Oregon
-UCLA
Away-
-Michigan State
-Nebraska
-Rutgers
-USC
2026 home schedule is pretty bad, (Minnesota, Purdue, Rutgers, USC, Wisconsin).
2028 schedule is a bear.
Home-
-Indiana
-Iowa
-Ohio State
-Oregon
-UCLA
Away-
-Michigan State
-Nebraska
-Rutgers
-USC
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Hot damn, when you look at this thing across all of the teams, the Big is one tough conference. Everybody has at least 3 really good opponents.
Eh, it's not that good, but USC and Wisconsin isn't too bad (if the Badgers can remain generally solid). It actually is kind of similar to this season with Michigan and Iowa as the biggest games.
The problem is Wisconsin isn’t really that good anymore, (at least not what they used to be).
Don’t forget the OOC slate that year of Marshall, Buffalo, and at Temple.
Marshall
Buffalo
Minnesota
Purdue
Rutgers
USC
Wisconsin.
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I may be in the minority but I love that we don't have a protected rivalry. More variety of game with such a large conference
10 conference games would suck if other conferences are still playing only 8 conference games.
Also, would basically eliminate the ability to play any interesting non-conference games (not that we have any great shakes on the upcoming schedule...)
Great schedule for Penn State. Both Usc and Washington will be breaking in new qbs and Ohio state will be home
Right...what's on the upcoming schedule is improved by Northwestern or Indiana.
So, I was thinking about the "PSU always starts conference play on the road" phenomena and looked at PSU's schedule next year. Our non-conference games are interesting as they are in weeks 1, 2, and 4. We do not play anyone in week 3 (Sept 14) and we are unlikely to get a bye that early so we will probably have our conference opening that day.
So, I looked over the schedules of all teams that we are playing to see who else has an opening that day. And only three teams we are playing in conference are also open week 3 - Washington, Ohio State, and USC.
The first two we play at home; USC is on the road. I'm skeptical they would have us play Ohio State so early, just feels like something they'd schedule in October or early November based on our history. I'm kind of wondering if it will be Washington and set at night for our Whiteout because it will be easy to set that up for TV wise.
Note: Washington only has 2 non-conference games scheduled they could still put someone that weekend. But I think they will try to play Washington St in that last spot, maybe even scheduling them the last week of the season when USC is playing Notre Dame in 2024.
So, I looked over the schedules of all teams that we are playing to see who else has an opening that day. And only three teams we are playing in conference are also open week 3 - Washington, Ohio State, and USC.
The first two we play at home; USC is on the road. I'm skeptical they would have us play Ohio State so early, just feels like something they'd schedule in October or early November based on our history. I'm kind of wondering if it will be Washington and set at night for our Whiteout because it will be easy to set that up for TV wise.
Note: Washington only has 2 non-conference games scheduled they could still put someone that weekend. But I think they will try to play Washington St in that last spot, maybe even scheduling them the last week of the season when USC is playing Notre Dame in 2024.
Also, I was thinking about the final week of the season for PSU. Given that we don't have a set protected team, while everyone else does, we won't have a consistent final opponent each year. It's almost certain we will just rotate among MSU, Rutgers and Maryland (and *maybe* UCLA in years when USC ends the season with Notre Dame, if that series continues to be scheduled that way). The two teams we aren't playing can then play each other. It seems to work out all these years. Here's what I would expect for the final weekend games:
2024: Maryland @ PSU; Rutgers @ MSU
2025: PSU @ MSU; Maryland @ Rutgers [could also work as PSU @ Rutgers; Maryland @ MSU)
2026: PSU @ Maryland; MSU @ Rutgers
2027: MSU @ PSU; Maryland @ Rutgers [could also work as Maryland @ PSU; Rutgers @ MSU]
2028: PSU @ MSU; Rutgers @ Maryland [could also work as PSU @ Rutgers; MSU @ Maryland]
2024: Maryland @ PSU; Rutgers @ MSU
2025: PSU @ MSU; Maryland @ Rutgers [could also work as PSU @ Rutgers; Maryland @ MSU)
2026: PSU @ Maryland; MSU @ Rutgers
2027: MSU @ PSU; Maryland @ Rutgers [could also work as Maryland @ PSU; Rutgers @ MSU]
2028: PSU @ MSU; Rutgers @ Maryland [could also work as PSU @ Rutgers; MSU @ Maryland]
This is not a popular opinion around here, but I would prefer going OOC with Pitt in the last weekend of every year.
Not so sure bout USC. Caleb Williams said he will only come out if certain teams can draft him. He indicated he can make more NIL $ than he would make as an NFL Rookie which I doubt, if you take into account his guaranteed money and signing bonus. He probably goes to avoid injury in college.
He’ll come out…even if he somehow took a pay cut (which he wouldn’t), he’s that much closer to his next contract which is where the real money starts to flow.
I’d like it for a 2 year series, but beyond that, it kills our ability to play other decent OOC games. I’d say keep a variety of teams in that H&H non-conference slot.
I’d agree - with the caveat that Penn State had to schedule some interesting OOC games. If they are just going to do Delaware, Villanova, and give a home and away series to Temple then they should just add Pitt.
I’d prefer it if no one reminds me of that awful Temple series. No issues with other ones like Cuse, WVU, VT, Auburn, etc.
Huge issue with the first 3...its not much different than playing Temple
Why don't fans want to see good games? Or at least potentially a good game in addition to the two layups we'll play non-conference...
Syracuse WVU and VA Tech aren't interesting matchups. Years ago (decades with Syracuse) would have been a different story.
Exactly. The Temple series is absolutely mind bogglingly stupid and should be bought out and replaced by a team with a pulse. No concerns with the other series though I'd prefer to mix in more Auburn types in among the old eastern teams.
So we’re playing a schedule with teams like Michigan, OSU, USC, Washington, etc and you want to add more games against teams like Auburn? Yes, let’s schedule ourselves out of the playoffs. Getting into the playoffs is still going to be largely about wins, so if your conference is strong, why throw on more difficult games when it’s not necessary?
I know it’s a pipe dream, but I’d also love for us to use football to help our basketball scheduling…sign a multi-sport home and home with Duke, NC, or Kansas. We add early season excitement to the basketball team and get a good crowd at the BJC, and they are still much better options than Temple on the football front.
This news hit when I was out of the country...finally able to look at the schedule a bit more closely. All in all, we scored, folks!
--You probably know this...but we play 11 foes 3x and 6 foes 2x to fill out our 45 games over the five years.
--The 6 teams we don't get to play 3x in 5 years...Michigan, Nebraska, NW, Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois. I couldn't care less about the last four...and I'd rather have the four Pac-12 teams more than Michigan and Nebraska.
--Speaking of the Pac-12...we get 3 of them on the schedule in '24 and '28, which is a higher ratio than most Big Ten programs. We play at least two Pac-12 schools every year. Plus, we get 7 of those Pac-12 games at home and only 5 of them on the road. The Big Ten did us a favor there.
--Speaking of favors, we get OSU at home 2x and only on the road 1x in this 5 year stretch. (I know, I know, we're away this year...but it's still nice that they didn't screw us for once)
--From year to year, there's a ton of schedule variety. We only see 2 back-to-back opponents (i.e. a Home-And-Away series with another Big Ten school) in 24/25 and 25/26 and 3 back-to-back opponents in 27/28. The one "repetitive" schedule we have is 26/27--where we play 5 of the same schools from year to year. But compare that with the current scheduling model--where we play snoozers against Indiana, Maryland, and Rutgers every single year--and it's still a lot better. (Who are three of those five "repeat" teams in 26/27? Washington, Michigan, and Wisconsin...pretty sweet.)
Again, the Big Ten did much better in this last phase of realignment. Rutgers and Maryland may have given us some nicer road games, but those two program simply can't rise up with four Big Ten East powers beating them down each year. (Maybe with the new divisionless Big Ten they'll find a way to rise up...) Adding four strong West Coast schools makes our yearly schedule so much better. I still wish we'd schedule better non-conference teams, but I can live with Temple and Syracuse since the Big Ten has so much more variety now.
--You probably know this...but we play 11 foes 3x and 6 foes 2x to fill out our 45 games over the five years.
--The 6 teams we don't get to play 3x in 5 years...Michigan, Nebraska, NW, Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois. I couldn't care less about the last four...and I'd rather have the four Pac-12 teams more than Michigan and Nebraska.
--Speaking of the Pac-12...we get 3 of them on the schedule in '24 and '28, which is a higher ratio than most Big Ten programs. We play at least two Pac-12 schools every year. Plus, we get 7 of those Pac-12 games at home and only 5 of them on the road. The Big Ten did us a favor there.
--Speaking of favors, we get OSU at home 2x and only on the road 1x in this 5 year stretch. (I know, I know, we're away this year...but it's still nice that they didn't screw us for once)
--From year to year, there's a ton of schedule variety. We only see 2 back-to-back opponents (i.e. a Home-And-Away series with another Big Ten school) in 24/25 and 25/26 and 3 back-to-back opponents in 27/28. The one "repetitive" schedule we have is 26/27--where we play 5 of the same schools from year to year. But compare that with the current scheduling model--where we play snoozers against Indiana, Maryland, and Rutgers every single year--and it's still a lot better. (Who are three of those five "repeat" teams in 26/27? Washington, Michigan, and Wisconsin...pretty sweet.)
Again, the Big Ten did much better in this last phase of realignment. Rutgers and Maryland may have given us some nicer road games, but those two program simply can't rise up with four Big Ten East powers beating them down each year. (Maybe with the new divisionless Big Ten they'll find a way to rise up...) Adding four strong West Coast schools makes our yearly schedule so much better. I still wish we'd schedule better non-conference teams, but I can live with Temple and Syracuse since the Big Ten has so much more variety now.
