Why Penn State and Ohio State Won't Play Again Until 2028

A spirited Big Ten rivalry is downshifting for the immediate future.

The 2016 clash between Ohio State and Penn State ranks among the most memorable in the series' history. / Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

Fans may take it for granted three decades into Penn State's Big Ten existence, but the Nittany Lions and Ohio State are a bit of an odd couple.

While both are land-grant schools, the Buckeyes play in a major metro area; Penn State is smack in the middle of Pennsylvania. The Nittany Lions have a quilt of Eastern and Midwestern quasi-rivals—Maryland, Michigan State, Pittsburgh and others—while Ohio State only truly has one.

These tensions have helped create a great series—one that will come to an end on a regular basis after this year. Following their Saturday matchup, Penn State and the Buckeyes will not meet again until 2028.

Why Penn State and Ohio State Won't Play Again Until 2028

When the Nittany Lions joined the Big Ten in 1993, conference schedule-makers wasted little time in ensuring that Penn State and Ohio State played every year—never mind the two teams' relative lack of history with one another. They'd played eight times as non-conference foes, with the Nittany Lions winning the first four and the most recent in the 1980 Fiesta Bowl.

In terms of manufacturing a rivalry, the gambit worked. "Only Ohio State-Michigan, with its lengthy history, tops Penn State-Ohio State in the Big Ten," Rich Scarcella of the Reading Eagle wrote as early as 1996. When the Big Ten added Nebraska in 2011 and introduced divisional play, the Nittany Lions and Buckeyes were joined at the hip—first in the ill-fated Leaders Division and then in the East.

However, the Big Ten is even bigger now, and when it came time to hash out a future schedule in Oct. 2023, the conference declined to protect Penn State and Ohio State's rivalry. In fact, for the Nittany Lions, the conference declined to protect any rivalries. Therefore, barring unforeseen circumstances, 2026 will be the first year where Penn State and the Buckeyes don't play since 1992.

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