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LAST WORD M A T T L I N G E R M A N | L I N G E R M A N M A T T H E W @ G M A I L . C O M early everything about the past eight months has been abnormal, so it's only right that this year's Big Ten schedule follows suit. After the conference announced in mid-September that it would reverse its fall postponement and begin play in late October, rumors swirled over what the new schedule would look like. Overall, the eight-game regular-season sched- ule followed by a "Champions Week" matchup against a yet-to-be-deter- mined opponent makes decent sense. Teams play the same eight conference foes at the same locations they had been scheduled to play in the revised Big Ten-only slate that dropped during the summer, but the order of those games has changed. While that solution is a sensible one, it doesn't come without some caveats. The first and most obvious change is the condensed nature of the schedule; it's rare for any college team to play nine games in nine consecutive weeks. Penn State usually has its bye sometime in October, during the first half of the con- ference schedule. The respite allows for guys to get healthy, and for heavier game-planning down the homestretch of the regular season. No Big Ten team will have a week off this season, and, quite frankly, that isn't likely to hurt Penn State as much as it might affect other schools. Under James Franklin, the Nittany Lions are 3-5 in the week after a regular-season bye, and as one of the deeper squads in the confer- ence, they should be able to manage po- tential injuries better than teams that might have less-experienced rosters. But unfortunately for the Lions, if there's a team better equipped to deal with the difficulties of nonstop football, it's the team they will be chasing for the Big Ten East Division crown: Ohio State. With one of the deepest rosters in the country, the Buckeyes should be able to weather any storm that comes their way during the regular season. That point leads me to zoom in on the Halloween showdown between Penn State and Ohio State at Beaver Stadium. So long as both teams take care of the rest of their schedules, there's a decent chance this game will decide who plays the winner of the Big Ten West Division in the conference championship on Dec. 19. And with the league playing fewer games than schools in the Big 12, SEC and ACC, it's likely that a school from the Big Ten would have to go undefeated and win the conference championship to have a chance to make the College Football Playoff. The stakes of this matchup are par for the course compared to recent years. While the Big Ten is the toughest con- ference from top to bottom, these are the two best teams in it and, along with Wisconsin, they have the best chances to compete for a national championship. But what's not par for the course in this rivalry is the game's timing in rela- tion to the rest of the schedule. Set for Oct. 31, it will be each team's second game of the year. In recent years, this game has been played in the middle or toward the end of the Big Ten schedule. In fact, this year's clash will be the earliest the two teams have met since Ohio State beat the Nittany Lions, 28-6, on Sept. 26, 2006. That was each team's conference opener, but both had the opportunity to play three nonconference games prior to it. While the first three games of the year certainly mean something down the road – see Penn State's loss at Pitt in 2016 – those first few weeks also act as a sort of quasi-preseason. Sure, upsets happen once in a while and can ruin a chance at the CFP, but these games are scheduled to give Penn State a chance to sort out position battles and get schemes fine-tuned before the most meaningful stretch of the season. Penn State is lucky to have plenty of returning starters this season – the most important of whom is Sean Clif- ford at quarterback – but it will also be implementing a new offense under first-year coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca. In past years, the Ohio State game came at a time when Penn State had built up to playing some of its better football. Even with plenty of practice time over the next few weeks, it will be essentially impossible for the Lions to be at their peak when the Buckeyes come to Beaver Stadium. And, truth- fully, beginning the season at Indiana isn't a cakewalk of a warm-up. My last thought is that the lack of fans at any games will have its effect, too. In the Franklin era, Penn State is 1-2 against Ohio State at home, with both losses coming in one-score games. Compare that to the team's 0-3 record in Columbus with an average margin of de- feat of more than 13 points, and it's clear that playing at Beaver Stadium in front of 110,000 fans has real implications. Of course, every team in the confer- ence is plagued with these or different difficulties stemming from the strange reality that is this season. For one, while the no-fan rule will hurt the Lions in week two, it will help them when they travel to Michigan – where they have been outscored 91-17 in their past two trips – on Nov. 28. At the end of the day, football in any ca- pacity is a welcome sight. There are just a few more hurdles to clear than usual. ■ Behind schedule N

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