INDIANAPOLIS — The Big Ten championship game featured, according to most rankings, neither of the two best teams in the Big Ten, and the result was flashes of brilliance amid sloppy play as Penn State defeated Wisconsin, 38-31, on Saturday
INDIANAPOLIS — The Big Ten championship game featured, according to most rankings, neither of the two best teams in the Big Ten, and the result was flashes of brilliance amid sloppy play as Penn State defeated Wisconsin, 38-31, on Saturday night. The conference title was an impressive achievement that will, nonetheless, most likely leave the Nittany Lions short of the College Football Playoff.
No. 8 Penn State (11-2) overwhelmed Wisconsin’s defense, which had entered the game holding opponents to 13.7 points per game, with a pass attack spearheaded by quarterback Trace McSorley and receiver Saeed Blacknall, both juniors. McSorley finished 22 of 31 for 384 passing yards and four touchdowns, while Blacknall caught six of those passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns.
No. 6 Wisconsin (10-3) ran the ball well, as is its tradition, with the hydra-headed running back committee of Corey Clement, Bradrick Shaw and Dare Ogunbowale. Clement led with 21 carries for 164 yards and a touchdown. But as the game wore on and Wisconsin’s stellar front seven found it more difficult to pressure McSorley, Wisconsin’s weaker defensive secondary was exposed.
It was a triumphant night for Penn State and its fans, who wore white and packed Lucas Oil Stadium for their team’s first title game appearance in the six years in which the Big Ten has had one; it also came five years after the Jerry Sandusky scandal. But it was unlikely that the sense of total triumph would last longer than 12 more hours.
Because of conference standings, the Badgers, sixth in the playoff rankings, and the Nittany Lions, seventh in those rankings, played for the conference title even though two conference rivals — Ohio State and Michigan — were ranked above them.
With No. 4 Washington having manhandled No. 9 Colorado in the Pacific-12 title game Friday night, 41-10; No. 1 Alabama having rolled over No. 15 Florida, 54-16, for the Southeastern Conference title Saturday afternoon; and No. 3 Clemson having handled No. 19 Virginia Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game, 42-35, on Saturday night, there was expected to be room for only one Big Ten team in the final four-team playoff bracket.
That team will very likely be No. 2 Ohio State (11-1), which, unlike the other Big Ten contenders, has just one loss — at Penn State, 24-21, in October — and wins over No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 5 Michigan and Wisconsin.
That did not stop Penn State coach James Franklin from making his case. During the postgame trophy ceremony, his voice booming through the stadium loudspeakers, he grabbed the microphone like a professional wrestler mugging for the crowd.
“We just won the toughest conference in college football,” Franklin said.
Referring to Penn State’s 2-2 start, he added: “They say you’re allowed to overcome early setbacks? We’ve done that. It’s on you now, committee.”
Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany had said on ESPN on Saturday morning that he thought that Alabama and Ohio State had done enough to make the playoff. He added that when the playoff was being formulated four years ago, he had advocated that it comprise the four best conference champions. As it turned out, the committee is instructed to select the four best teams, with conference championships merely a positive factor.
“We wanted this process — we wanted the human element,” Delany said after the trophy ceremony. “And regardless of what happens, I’ll be supportive of the outcome. We would love to have a team or two or three or four. We had a good year.”
Wisconsin, meanwhile, is most likely not heading to the playoff or to the Rose Bowl — which will feature the highest-ranked Big Ten team that does not make the playoff. Coach Paul Chryst acknowledged as much after the game, saying, “Our team didn’t make enough plays tonight.”
