James Franklin and his team react to “earning” their way into the Big Ten title game
By Josh Yourish
It was always the expectation in 2024, even with the expanded 18-team Big Ten doing away with divisions, that James Franklin and Penn State would need to beat Ohio State to make the Big Ten Championship game. However, after the Buckeyes suffered their second conference loss of the season on Saturday, getting upset at home 13-10 by Michigan, the Nittany Lions at 11-1, with their lone Big Ten loss to the Buckeyes, are heading to Indianapolis to play Oregon for the conference title next week.
After clinching a chance to win the program’s fifth Big Ten crown and its first since Franklin won it in 2016, the 11th-year head coach of Penn State had some bad news for his team.
Practice tomorrow!#WeAre pic.twitter.com/CWsb1Py8rg
— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) December 1, 2024
Ohio State was over a three-touchdown favorite in Columbus against the Wolverines, so there was very little expectation that Penn State would be in this position, which is why Franklin would’ve already had the practice schedule laid out assuming his team was done until the start of the College Football Playoff.
Ryan Day’s Buckeyes may have handed it to them, but by not tripping up against any inferior opponents this season, Penn State superstar defensive end Abdul Carter believes that the Nittany Lions earned the chance to play No. 1 Oregon.
Abdul Carter on reaching the Big Ten championship game: “This is something we’ve worked for since the winter, since the spring, since camp, during the season. The work just keeps going on. And we earned it.” pic.twitter.com/YqOzzUNX1v
— Johnny McGonigal (@jmcgonigal9) December 1, 2024
Penn State now has a chance to beat the Ducks and likely lock up the No. 1 overall seed in the 12-team CFP bracket and certainly a first-round bye. However, heading into the weekend, introducing the risk of another loss didn’t appear to be the best-case scenario for the Nittany Lions, who were already a near certainty to host a first-round CFP game at Beaver Stadium. Running back Nicholas Singleton, though, wasn’t buying that line of thinking after Penn State’s 44-7 blowout win over Maryland on Saturday.
Abdul Carter on reaching the Big Ten championship game: “This is something we’ve worked for since the winter, since the spring, since camp, during the season. The work just keeps going on. And we earned it.” pic.twitter.com/YqOzzUNX1v
— Johnny McGonigal (@jmcgonigal9) December 1, 2024
The Nittany Lions opened as 3.5-point underdogs against undefeated Oregon, and with No. 6 Miami also taking a loss in the final week of the regular season, even if Penn State loses to the Ducks, its chances of hosting in Round 1 remain very high.
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