College Football Week 13 Schedule: Ohio State and Penn State should decide Big Ten East

Barring something entirely unexpected next Saturday, one of today’s early college football games should decide a division. With SEC teams largely playing unimpressive competition this week, the Big Ten gets center stage for the biggest game of the weekend and a de facto East division championship game.

That contest pits a pair of top-ten teams, as Penn State travels four hours West to play No. 2 Ohio State today. Once again, FOX gets first dibs on Big Ten games, choosing this one and scheduling it for Noon Eastern time. While fans of both teams are unhappy about a lack of tailgating time — a common refrain since this network arrangement began earlier this year — that does not diminish the impact of this contest.

A Penn State win would give Ohio State its first loss and send the Nittany Lions to 2-8 Rutgers next week to clinch the division. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes would lock up the division with a victory of their own, keeping them undefeated while every other college in the East has at least two losses.

Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Badgers need a win in their home finale to ensure a Big Ten West title game next weekend against the Golden Gophers. Purdue looks to play spoiler for the Badgers, however, as the 4-6 Boilermakers need wins in their final two games to get to bowl eligibility.

Other ranked teams are all facing unranked squads, with the PSU-OSU game being the only one between a pair of ranked teams this week. Tune in all day to see if an upset is brewing or if the Buckeyes-Nittany Lions battle lives up to the billing.