Penn State 2022 football schedule analysis: 4 takeaways on what Big Ten’s changes mean for Nittany Lions

STATE COLLEGE — The Big Ten officially altered its 2022 football schedule Wednesday as it continues to account for the scheduling ripple effect caused by the 2020 season amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Penn State schedule saw a host of shifts with a couple high-profile matchups getting shuffled around, a new opponent from the Big Ten West getting added and its bye week getting bumped up two weeks.

Here are four takeaways from the Big Ten’s announcement:

1. Northwestern could be a bit of a wild card as an addition from the Big Ten West.

Penn State’s opportunity for revenge against Illinois after last year’s nine-overtime loss will have to wait after the Fighting Illini were removed from the schedule and replaced with Northwestern out of the Big Ten West.

The Wildcats are coming off a 3-9 season in which their quarterbacks combined for 13 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. The offense averaged only 16.6 points per game, which was the fifth-worst mark in the country. They closed the season on a six-game losing streak with only one of those defeats coming by single digits.

But coach Pat Fitzgerald’s team has been on a weird trajectory. In the past four seasons, Northwestern has two nine-loss years and two Big Ten West titles. Given how poorly the Wildcats played in 2021, it’s hard to expect that type of bounce-back year, but it’ll be worth watching how they acquit themselves in the first month of the season before arriving at Beaver Stadium on Oct. 1.

Penn State and Northwestern last met in 2017 with the Nittany Lions scoring a 31-7 win in Evanston, Ill.

2. Penn State gets Ohio State and Michigan split up, but Minnesota throws a wrench into things.

On its original schedule, Penn State opened October with Ohio State at home and then Michigan on the road. That’s a tough back-to-back in any season but especially now, given both programs’ trajectories.

The good news on the updated schedule is that the games are split up, with the Nittany Lions traveling to Ann Arbor to face Michigan on Oct. 15 and the Buckeyes visiting Beaver Stadium on Oct. 29. Whiteout, anyone?

The bad news? The Minnesota game got moved up a month and shoehorned between Michigan and Ohio State. While the matchup will take place at Beaver Stadium, the Golden Gophers are coming off a 9-4 season and ranked third in the Big Ten in rushing with 198.1 yards per game. Three different backs rushed for at least 500 yards last season, and that doesn’t include star Mohamed Ibrahim, who suffered a season-ending injury in Week 1 of 2021.

The stretch of Michigan-Minnesota-Ohio State could wind up being a physically brutal stretch, given the playing style and talent level on both teams. Ahead of the Buckeyes’ arrival Oct. 29, the Nittany Lions will need to be recovered and ready.

3. Michigan State is a more worthy of a season finale than Rutgers.

The battle for the Land Grant Trophy will once again take place in the final week of the season. Penn State was originally scheduled to face Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J., to close the season, but instead, Michigan State will visit Beaver Stadium. The Scarlet Knights will instead face Maryland to close the season.

It’s a good move from the Big Ten, both from the aesthetics of Rivalry Week — Michigan-Ohio State, Minnesota-Wisconsin, Indiana-Purdue are the same day — and from the competition perspective. Michigan State announced itself as a Big Ten contender in 2021, and a matchup with Penn State could have Big Ten East and postseason implications. The annual matchup between the Wolverines and Buckeyes often does for Ohio State, at least.

The Big Ten heightens the drama for its final week and adds a little more juice to the back end of Penn State’s schedule.

4. The post-bye schedule is, unsurprisingly, difficult.

This is mostly a product of playing in the Big Ten East, which is difficult no matter what, but Penn State’s schedule features an interesting dynamic with its bye week getting moved up two weeks to Oct. 8. Originally, Penn State was slated to wrap up its nonconference slate against Central Michigan on Sept. 24 and then face Ohio State, Michigan and Illinois before the bye.

While that would still be difficult, Penn State would have had a bye to look forward to regroup physically before a five-game stretch to close the season.

With the bye moved up, Penn State faces Northwestern on Oct. 1 after closing nonconference play, and then coming out of the bye, it’s the aforementioned Michigan-Minnesota-Ohio State run. The scheduling does work out a bit in November with Indiana, Maryland and Rutgers in consecutive weeks, but those programs are hard to pin down at this point in the calendar.

In 2021, Penn State’s schedule lined up tidily with the bye week splitting its season in half. And down the stretch, the Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State games were all spaced out evenly. The distribution of the 2022 slate is a little more clustered, and that could present some challenges from both a coaching and playing perspective.