Penn State is sneakily one of the biggest beneficiaries of Michigan’s gifted win in Week 1

Penn State has the easiest schedule in the Big Ten. It avoids the Big Three: Indiana, Ohio State, and Oregon. Now there are two sides to that coin. Obviously, you can rack up a lot of wins, but also, it’s tough to build a resume without marquee matchups, which leaves you with almost no margin for error. 

As funny as it would have been for Michigan to have rightfully been upset by Western Michigan on Saturday night in the Big House, as Kyle Whittingham flailed in his debut hours after Matt Campbell ran off the field as a 45-0 victor with the fans at Beaver Stadium chanting his name, it’s better for Penn State that a second was, seemingly erroneously, added to the clock for Bryce Underwood to attempt another Hail Mary and to stun the Broncos. 

In fact, aside from Michigan, Penn State is probably the biggest beneficiary of that decision by the Big Ten officials in Ann Arbor. Ohio State has other chances for big-time wins; so do Oklahoma, Indiana, Oregon, and Ohio State. The Nittany Lions need Michigan to at least be respectable, and, if you believe there’s a conspiracy, that would undeniably be part of the Big Ten’s motivation. 

If the Big Ten did tip the scales for Michigan, that’s not just for one team’s benefit

Late on Saturday night, the Big Ten released the video of its replay operation discussing the play, and the clock shown was different from the NBC clock, which was at zero well before the Western Michigan player jumped from out of bounds to touch the ball, rendering it dead. 

It’s probably a reasonable explanation that either the Big Ten’s clock or the NBC clock got out of sync at some point. In its statement, the Big Ten hinted strongly that the broadcasting partner, which pays it hundreds of millions of dollars for the rights to televise Big Ten games, had it wrong. 

For what it's worth, the MAC appeared to be satisified with that explanation.

Maybe that’s true, but there’s such a massive incentive for the Big Ten to tip the scales in Michigan’s favor, potentially going as far as to doctor a replay video- which I’m not alleging it did, by the way- that it’s going to be hard for people to believe. Most likely, one of the two clocks was wrong, and that’s a problem, but presumably one not tainted by malicious intent. 

But the Big Ten had plenty of motivation for malice. 

There’s a significant amount of money tied to a team from your conference making the College Football Playoff and subsequently advancing. Michigan, of course, didn’t look the part of a CFP contender in Week 1, but that doesn’t matter to the Big Ten. It needs to protect its biggest brands and keep them in the rankings as long as possible, not just to increase that program’s CFP chances, but every team in the league’s. 

Penn State needs Michigan to be good more than any other team

There’s a cluster behind the Big Three, with USC tied with BYU at No. 14, Michigan at No. 16, Washington at No. 17, and Penn State at No. 18. Michigan does not play USC or Washington, but the two former Pac-12 programs will face off in LA later this year, and both play Penn State. 

That little round robin has the chance to knock all three programs from CFP contention, likely crushing the league’s chances of getting a fourth team into the field (this is a lot of projection, I know, but stick with me). 

Because of how soft its schedule is, 10-2 Penn State is not a lock for an at-large bid. That would be especially the case if those two losses are to good USC and Washington teams, while one of the 10 wins is over a Michigan program that never got off the mat after a Week 1 upset loss to Western Michigan and barely limps to bowl eligibility. 

However, even if that same Michigan team, with all the same problems it put on display for 60 minutes on Saturday night, manages to keep a little number by its name most of the year, that helps the rest of the Big Ten, especially Penn State, build up its resume. 

Or maybe Michigan does bounce back. Maybe this was a blip on the radar. Maybe the Wolverines beat Penn State in the Big House on October 17. In that case, Penn State needs it to be a quality loss, so Michigan not losing to Western Michigan is also good. 

So, if the Big Ten did something nefarious, that would be why. And, as gross as that would be, it undeniably helps Penn State in its quest to get back to the CFP. 

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