New Big Ten football format including USC, UCLA leaves Penn State without annual ‘rival’

With the addition of Southern Cal and UCLA to the Big Ten starting in 2024, the conference released its new schedule rotation for the 2024 and 2025 football seasons on Thursday afternoon, protecting 11 rivalries in the process.

Headlining the rivalries are Ohio State-Michigan, Michigan-Michigan State, and new arrivals USC-UCLA. However, Penn State was left without a protected rivalry and will cycle through every team in the Big Ten.

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In addition to this change, because the Nittany Lions don’t have a true “rival,” games against Michigan and Ohio State will not be scheduled on an annual basis anymore. Penn State will play the Buckeyes in 2024, but in 2025, it only will play Michigan, which will mark the first season the Nittany Lions don’t play Ohio State since beginning Big Ten play in 1993.

Michigan will be a Penn State opponent in 2025, but not in 2024. Typically, these games carry weight in the Big Ten East race. Although Penn State hasn’t won the Big Ten since 2016, games against those programs are the litmus test to see how it stacks up against two college football elites.

The new schedule rotation did preserve a matchup with Rutgers through at least 2025. While the Lions have dominated the series, 9-0, since James Franklin took over and are on a 16-game streak overall, the success they’ve had over the Scarlet Knights has allowed them to hit the recruiting trail heavily in that region.

Michigan State also is on the schedule for the next two seasons in their battle for the Land Grant Trophy. It’s a matchup Penn State has owned recently, winning three of their last four matchups, but the Spartans, once considered among the upper echelon in the conference, handled the Lions earlier in Franklin’s tenure.

The new format does leave room for other opportunities to expand the Lions’ recruiting reach and play in different environments. They’ll visit California to face USC in 2025 — while also hosting the Trojans in 2024 — and host UCLA in 2025.

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