The Big Ten championship game is set for Saturday, December 7 in Indianapolis, where No. 1 Oregon will take on No. 3 Penn State for the conference’s football title. The Ducks enter with a perfect 12-0 record, while the Nittany Lions are 11-1 with their lone loss against No. 6 Ohio State.
Regardless of the Big Ten title result, both Oregon and Penn State are almost certainly locks for the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff. So what’s really at stake here?
Since both teams are extremely likely to make the playoff, the result of the conference championship game comes down to seeding and various advantages there.
Under the new 12-team College Football Playoff format, the four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded as Nos. 1-4, and those four teams will get a first-round bye. The Big Ten title winner will very likely be among the four highest-ranked conference champs, so that’s a notable advantage.
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Whoever ends up losing the Big Ten title game will want to make sure it’s a very close loss. With a small scoring margin, the loser would likely be a No. 5, No. 6 or No. 7 seed, meaning that team would still have to play a first-round game but it would get home-field advantage.
So basically, Oregon and Penn State are playing for a first-round bye, and as long as it’s not a bad loss, the loser of the Big Ten championship game would still get a favorable playoff seed.
