Big Ten's biggest football game returns to Indy
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Who will leave Indy with the Big Ten title? Photo: James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The final chapter of a historic 2024 Big Ten football season will be written this weekend in Indianapolis.
Why it matters: The best Big Ten football team in Indiana won't be part of it, despite delivering the conference's most compelling story of the year.
The big picture: Indianapolis is preparing to roll out the red carpet for the 14th annual Big Ten Football Championship Game and play host to scores of sports fans, something the city has done time and again throughout 2024, a record tourism year.
- The Big Ten title game will remain in Indy through at least 2028.
What's happening: Two days of gridiron good times starting with a fan fest at the Indiana Convention Center, continuing with tailgating on South Street and culminating in the title game inside Lucas Oil Stadium.
State of play: The weekend's main event will see the No. 1 Oregon Ducks (12-0) and No. 3 Penn State Nittany Lions (11-1) peck and paw at each other in a battle between Big Ten's past and present.
- Oregon is one of four West Coast teams that joined the traditionally Midwestern conference this season alongside USC, UCLA and Washington.
- While not one of the originals, Penn State has been woven into the Big Ten's fabric for nearly 35 years. They joined as the 11th team in 1990.
The intrigue: If you're a Hoosiers fan wondering why No. 9 IU — which holds the same overall and conference record as Penn State — isn't in the championship game, you're not the only one.
How it works: The conference expansion introduced new tiebreakers. If two teams are tied, the following six steps are taken in this order until a winner is determined:
- Tied teams will be compared based on head-to-head matchups during the regular season.
- Compared based on record against all common conference opponents.
- Compared based on record against common opponents with the best conference record and order of finish.
- Compared based on the best winning percentage.
- Chosen based on the highest ranking by SportSource Analytics following the regular season.
- Chosen by random draw.
What they're saying: Big Ten coach of the year Curt Cignetti questioned the system after his Hoosiers were left out of the title game when conference officials got to step four and found Penn State to have a higher conference winning percentage.
- "We would have been better off just flipping a coin between the two second-place teams to see who played in that game," Cignetti said. "But it didn't work out that way."
Zoom in: The Big Ten Fan Fest serves as the weekend kickoff when the doors open at 4pm Friday.
- While Indiana's football team is missing the action, its wrestling team isn't. Fan Fest will also be the site of the inaugural Big Ten Takedown: Illinois vs. Indiana Wrestling Dual at 5pm Friday.
- Tailgate Town on South Street opens at 10am Saturday. The free event is home to the St. Elmo Shrimp Cocktail eating contest at 3:30pm Saturday, featuring competitive eating legend Joey Chestnut.
- Kickoff for the Big Ten Championship game is at 8pm Saturday.
If you go: Tickets for the game start at $12.
- A ticket to the game gets you admission to the Fan Fest, which will be open 4-9pm Friday and 10am-8pm Saturday.
- Individual tickets to the Fan Fest are $12 for adults and $6 for children between the ages of 3 and 12. Kids age 2 and younger get in free.