ESPN Computer Predicts Winner Of No. 1 Oregon vs. No. 3 Penn State
12/05/2024 03:47 PM
The college football world will focus its attention on a handful of conference championship games this weekend, but none may be bigger than one of the final games to be played on Saturday.
No. 3 Penn State and No. 1 Oregon will head to Indianapolis to battle for the Big Ten conference championship and likely the top spot in the College Football Playoff.
The winner of Saturday's game will earn a first-round bye as one of the top-ranked conference champions, but which team will come out on top to win the first conference title in the new-look Big Ten.
ESPN has put its computer to the test, and it is giving Penn State a slight advantage in Saturday night's game. ESPN Analytics says the Nittany Lions have a 53.7% chance to win compared to Oregon's 46.3% chance.
The Ducks enter as the No. 1 team in the country with a perfect 12-0 record. They've been tested at times this season - their first as a Big Ten team - and they've been able to answer every call.
Penn State has one blemish on their record, a road loss to an Ohio State team that nearly handed Oregon its first loss.
Both teams took care of business in their final regular season games last week, with Oregon taking down rival Washington 49-21 while Penn State defeated Maryland 44-7 at home.
Penn State is looking for its first conference championship since 2016, when they defeated Wisconsin to win the Big Ten title before taking on USC in the Rose Bowl.
Oregon last won a conference championship in 2020, defeating USC in one of the final Pac-12 championship games.
This season, they're looking to commemorate their first year in the Big Ten with a conference championship and preserving their perfect season before heading into the playoff.
We'll see how things turn out for the Ducks and the Nittany Lions this weekend, and we'll find out which team will become the first non-Michigan program to win a Big Ten title since Ohio State in 2020.
You'd have to go back to 2015 to find a team outside of the "big three" - Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State - to win the Big Ten title, as Michigan State was the last team to do so back in 2015.
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