Big Ten championship scenarios: How Penn State, Ohio State and Indiana can face Oregon

Penn State escaped Minnesota with a win, continuing its College Football Playoff push.

Ohio State beating Indiana also helped the Nittany Lions chances of playing for the Big Ten title.

The race for a berth in the Big Ten championship is straightforward entering the final week of the season.

Undefeated Oregon has already clinched a spot.

One-loss Penn State, Ohio State and Indiana are all in play to be the Ducks opponents on Dec.

7 in Indianapolis.

Here is what each of the remaining contenders needs to advance to the Big Ten title game.

Ohio State: Needs a win vs.

Michigan OR Penn State and Indiana losses Penn State: Needs a win vs.

Maryland AND an Ohio State loss Indiana: Needs a win vs.

Purdue AND Penn State and Ohio State losses The most likely scenario is Ohio State beats Michigan and has a rematch with Oregon for the conference crown.

The Buckeyes, after blowing out Indiana by 23 points, is a three-touchdown home favorite over the Wolverines, who have struggled mightily this season.

But if Ohio State coach Ryan Day can manage losing a fourth consecutive game to Michigan, the Nittany Lions would be a win away against Maryland from getting to Lucas Oil Stadium.

Thats because Penn State holds the tiebreaker over Indiana.

Last week we broke down all of the Big Ten championship tiebreakers.

For one-loss Penn State and Indiana, it would come down to the fourth tiebreaker: best cumulative opponent conference winning percentage.

To make this cleaner, lets remove Penn State and Indianas common opponents from the equation.

Theyre a wash in this scenario.

Penn States different conference opponents are Illinois, Wisconsin, USC and Minnesota.

Indianas different conference opponents are Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska and Northwestern.

As things stand right now ...

Penn States different conference opponents: 16-17 (.484) Indianas different conference opponents: 12-20 (.375) Looking ahead to the final week of the Big Ten slate, Penn States tiebreaker advantage cant be overcome.

The worst case scenario Penn States different conference opponents losing out and Indianas winning out would make it 17-19 to 16-20 in the Nittany Lions favor.

So, its pretty straightforward for Penn State.

Root for a Michigan upset, pull for a Nittany Lion win over Maryland, and James Franklins team will be competing for a Big Ten championship and the first-round bye in the College Football Playoff that comes with it.

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