Playoff Expansion Ends Conference Championships Which Penn State Never Factored In

It became official this week that the people in charge of college football (ESPN) decided that the College Football Playoff is expanding from 12 teams to 24 teams. With that announcement came the follow-up domino, which was the cancellation of conference championships.

Going forward, no matter the conference, there will be no additional game at the end of the year to crown a conference champion. 

As that game gets put to bed, it is a reminder that the Nittany Lions, in the 15 year stint playing the game, they only participated in this game just twice. They hold a 1-1 record, but this is a game that they truly were not a factor in at all.

The lone victory came a decade ago in 2016, in incredibly dramatic fashion against the Wisconsin Badgers. They dug themselves a really big hole, trailing 28-7, but then the fight was on. They clawed all the way back to beat the Badgers 38-31, on the back of Saquon Barkley and Trace McSorley. McSorley threw for 384 yards and four touchdowns, while Barkley added 83 yards and a score.

The loss was much more recent than that. It was two seasons ago, in 2024, when the No. 3 Nittany Lions rolled into Lucas Oil Stadium to take on the No. 1 Oregon Ducks. 

It was one of the most highly anticipated games of the season and it lived up to the billing.

With a trip to the Rose Bowl on the line, the two teams got into a knockdown dragout fight that ended with a final score of 45-37 in favor of the Ducks.

Quarterback Drew Allar was exactly what he was at the end of that season. He threw for 226 yards and 3 touchdowns, but also turned the football over twice and ultimately cost the Nittany Lions a chance at the title. 

And that is it; that is the list of Big Ten Championships that the Nittany Lions have competed in over the last 15 seasons. It goes to show the state of the program and why they decided to make the change that they did last season to move on from James Franklin.

Penn State has been remarkably average over the past decade and a half, and now, as they look to the future, this game won't be on their radar any longer. They don't have a chance of making it to this year's game, so they will go quietly as this game fades to black.

The Big Ten Championship game is no longer and the Nittany Lions will go down in history for having just a 1-1 record in it.