Protected Rivalry games in the BIG:

Illinois-Northwestern
Illinois-Purdue
Indiana-Purdue,
Iowa-Minnesota
Iowa-Nebraska
Iowa-Wisconsin
Maryland-Rutgers
Michigan-Michigan State
Michigan-Ohio State
Minnesota-Wisconsin
Oregon-Washington
UCLA-USC

Seventeen of the 18 teams in the BIG have a protected rivalry game – Penn State is the only team without one.

Given that TCUN has tarnished our rivalry, don’t you think we should add Penn State as team we play every year?

I am NOT saying that we drop the rivalry with TCUN, or move The Game on the schedule, I am simply saying that we should ADD Penn State as a rivalry game and play them every year. 

If you look at the rivalry games in the BIG, they are all geographically based.  Ohio is right next door to Pennsylvania and Penn State has a long history of football excellence – they seem like a good fit for a rivalry.  Despite being good this year, Indiana (another border state) does not have a long history of excellence in football and they already have a rivalry game with in-state Purdue.

As this season shows, it is impossible to predict the records of college football teams years into the future.  However, Penn State has been perennially good for quite some time and it would more often than not, add to our strength of schedule.  Penn State has traditionally had a good running game, which makes for a good tune-up before playing TCUN.

Full disclosure, I live in Pennsylvania.