Big Ten Announces Penn State’s 10-Game 2020 Schedule

After announcing that the league would go to a 10-game conference-only schedule a couple weeks ago, the Big Ten finally released Penn State’s revised 2020 schedule.

September 5: Northwestern
September 12: @ Indiana
September 19: @Michigan
September 26: Michigan State
October 3: @ Rutgers
October 10: BYE
October 17: Maryland
October 24: Iowa
October 31: @ Nebraska
November 7: Ohio State
November 14: BYE
November 21: @ Illinois

All in all — not too shabby. People will complain that there’s no bye week before Ohio State, but honestly, a road trip to Nebraska shouldn’t cause too much worry. This is especially true when you compare it to the original schedule, where Penn State was slated to have Iowa and Ohio State in back-to-back weeks. Now sure, there were some benefits to not having to travel the weekend prior, but I think this is the better option for the Nittany Lions.

You’ll notice two bye weeks (not counting Rutgers and Maryland): one on October 10 with the other coming November 14. I feel like the original reaction to the November 14 one would be, “Oh, thanks for the off week before the final game against Illinois.” But in all reality, that is likely placed there in case a prior game needs to be made up.

My only other major takeaway is that I like opening up with Northwestern and @Indiana: good tests for Penn State, but nothing that should be overwhelming. And lastly, getting Illinois in the plus-one Big Ten West crossover is pretty ideal.