Following yet another week of college football chaos, your Penn State Nittany Lions find themselves preparing to head to Indianapolis to play for the Big Ten Championship against the Oregon Ducks.
How did this happen?
I hope you’ll forgive me for waxing nostalgic, but I can’t quite shake some of the similarities between this season and the last time Penn State made it to Indy in 2016.
Not everything is the same - for starters, 2024 Penn State beat their regional rival this year (West Virginia, by a score of 34-12) while 2016 Penn State lost to their regional rival (Pitt, by a score of 42-39) - but man, there sure are some interesting similarities.
Both teams had struggle wins against Group of 5 teams early in the year - 2016 beat Temple 34-27, 2024 beat Bowling Green 34-27.
Both teams beat Minnesota in a nailbiter - 2016 won 29-26 in overtime, 2024 won 26-25 in regulation.
Both teams lost to one of the Big 2 - 2016 lost to Michigan 49-10, 2024 lost to Ohio State 20-13 - and then needed help from that same team’s rival to make it to Indianapolis:
In 2016, Michigan was steamrolling people left and right, but somehow stumbled against Iowa in week 11, before losing in week 12 to Ohio State 30-27 in double overtime.
In 2024, Ohio State was steamrolling people left and right, but lost in week 12 to Michigan, 13-10.
In both cases, one of the Big 2 lost their customary noon game, meaning if Penn State could beat a hapless opponent at 3:30, they’d go to Indianapolis - 2016 beat 3-9 Michigan State 45-12, and 2024 beat 4-8 Maryland 44-7.
The two biggest differences this year are 1) Penn State did not lose two games in 2024, which cost them a playoff spot in 2016, and 2) the playoff has expanded in 2024, so the Lions are locks to make it regardless what happens in Indianapolis.
So here we are, 8 years later, with tons of similarities to compare to the last magical run to a Big Ten championship game appearance.
Be real nice if the last similarity - winning the dang thing - could come true as well.