The Big Ten championship game took place this past Saturday 7, 2024, between Penn State and Oregon at Lucas Oil Stadium. This game determined which team would be the champions of the Big Ten division.
The game started at 8:00 PM, leading off with Oregon on the receiving team. Oregon quickly charged downfield led by their quarterback Dillon Gabriel. The first score of the game was a pass to Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq, who made an unbelievable hurdle over one of the Penn State defensive backs and ran the ball in for a touchdown.
Penn State’s opening drive looked solid pushing down the field all the way to the red zone. But Penn State was unable to answer back and was forced to kick a field goal making the score seven to three.
Oregon was pumped up making another long rush down the field all the way to the two-yard line, where another pass was made to Kanyon Sadiq for the Ducks’ second touchdown. The Ducks then went on to make the extra point making the score fourteen to three.
Penn State had a lot of flags during the first half of the game for unsportsmanlike conduct, which put them into some bad yardage situations. They gave the Ducks some extra yards and lost precious yards on offense which set them back. “The Lions committed four 15-yard penalties in the first half, including two facemask calls and two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on defensive back Tyrece Mills and guard Vega Ioane.”
The Nittany Lions did not help themselves by making these penalties, but Oregon certainly took these to their advantage. Penn State was able to score a touchdown before the end of the first quarter with a pass to Nick Singleton making the score fourteen to ten.
The second quarter started out with another drive downfield from Oregon, with a four-yard touchdown pass to Terrance Ferguson. Oregon’s offense has been able to read and adapt to Penn State’s defense throughout the game giving them a great receiving advantage. Penn State’s pass rushing was held to a minimum by the Oregon offensive line and Gabriel’s pocket mobility.
Penn State struggled to make it downfield and got stopped by Oregon giving them the ball back. This gave Oregon the chance to extend the lead by even more, which they capitalized on by giving the ball to Jordan James for a rushing touchdown.
Penn State was able to recover during the second quarter with two touchdowns, one to Omari Evans and a quarterback keeper from Drew Allor. Just as the Nittany Lions look like they are out of this game they come back just like that. Oregon is able to put up one final score before the half though making the score 24 to 31.
After the half, the game was relatively low scoring, but Oregon was able to put up another touchdown to Tez Johnson with a 48-yard reception. Oregon was the first team all season to score on Penn State in the third quarter.
As the clock ticks down it is finally in the fourth quarter where the next points are scored with a handoff to Kaytron Allen for the next touchdown. Oregon is able to answer back with their last touchdown of the game going to Jordan James with a three-yard run.
Penn State scores once again with a pass to Harrison Wallace III to make the score 37 to 45. Penn State is able to hold Oregon forcing them to punt. It’s fourth down on the Nittany Lions and Allor goes for it all, throwing a pass downfield to get them into scoring range, but the ball is picked off settling the game and declaring Oregon the Big Ten Champions.
Both teams put up a great fight during this game, with Oregon’s quarterback throwing for 283 yards and Penn State’s quarterback throwing for 226 yards. The rushing game also played a huge role with 183 rushing yards for Oregon, and 292 rushing yards for Penn State.
The game was very high-scoring for a championship game but stayed eventful and had fans on their toes the whole time. Both teams played exceptionally well despite Penn State having much unsportsmanlike conduct against them. Dan Lanning says, “I don’t have a lot to say except for how proud I am of these guys. We’ve talked about moments this year where, you know, guys have to put each other on their backs, and I thought the offense tonight did an unbelievable job.”
Dan is proud of the ducks, and the work they have put in this season to make it this far. He feels that they have some real talent, and that they will make it far in the postseason.
