Breaking down Penn State's expanded 2024 schedule, potential late-season pitfalls

Penn State needs to win this fall at a rate that will have them in contention for the expanded College Football Playoff. They’ll be attempting to do so in the midst of a schedule that looks far different and features new challenges compared to years past.

Sean Fitz of BlueWhite Illustrated spoke to On3’s Andy Staples on his show on Friday about the Nittany Lions’ schedule in 2024. Both noted the uniqueness of the slate while Fitz started by highlighting the first six games of the season before their second of two byes.

“I think this might be the most interesting Penn State schedule since they were an independent,” stated Staples. “The divisions in the Big Ten, whether it be the leaders and legends or the east and west? It never felt like there was a lot of variety.”

“I mean you look at the front half of that schedule? West Virginia is tricky. Going to Morgantown? Nobody likes to go to Morgantown,” Fitz said. “You look at the first half of that schedule? Yeah, it’s different. I don’t know that I’d call it daunting. You get UCLA, obviously going to be a rebuild there. Going to USC? You’re going to see what you’ve got. There’s some tricky spots but it’s just, I want to say, the same story with different sort of characters there.”

However, after those first six with three non-conference and their first three in the Big Ten, the back half starts off in very difficult fashion. Including a game in Los Angeles on October 12th, Penn State will play at USC, at Wisconsin, against Ohio State, and versus Washington in four consecutive weeks.

If they can succeed in that three-game stretch post-bye, though, Staples feels confident in Penn State’s chances of being in the playoff.

“They go to Camp Randall on October 26th. They get a bye week after that at USC but they’ve got that one right before they go to Ohio State. Then they get Washington at home right after that. That’s as challenging a stretch as you’re going to find,” said Staples. “The old two-game season situation is over. This is the three-game sandwich stretch just in the middle where you make or break yourself here. Like, you go 2-1 in that stretch? You’re in the playoff.”

Fitz agreed in his evaluation of that portion of the schedule. With that said, he also doesn’t want to overlook any of the other games considering conference play can always provide its own hiccup or two.

“Washington? It stings a little bit less with Kalen DeBoer going to Alabama. You’re not sure what that’s going to bring back. Wisconsin, of course. We talked about them. It’s very fascinating to see which direction they’re going to go,” said Fitz. “Then, of course, you’ve got the monster there in Ohio State.”

“You have these certain little things and that’s the funny thing with college football in general is you circle all these games and then you sort of white out all the other ones because they all feel the same,” Fitz said. “The Purdues, Minnesota, Maryland – all those kind of things. That’s not the case. It’s really hard to win football games in the Big Ten, regardless of what that other team’s record is.”

Penn State has a win-total of 9.5 in 2024, a number that suggests a win pace that should have them in the conversation for the 12-team playoff. Still, they’ll actually have to play it and earn that spot come time for their dozen kickoffs later this year.

“We will see what happens with that,” Fitz said.