Penn State wins the 2016 Big Ten East standings race over Ohio State

Rich Barnes

The Big Ten East race is over, and Penn State’s the winner.

Ohio State beat Michigan in Columbus on Saturday afternoon, and that opened the door for the Nittany Lions. They handled business at home against a bad Michigan State team, finishing 8-1 in Big Ten play. That tied for first with Ohio State, and the Lions’ head-to-head win earlier in the fall swung the division to Happy Valley.

The East standings, post-Saturday games, via ESPN. (Ignore Ohio State being listed first. Penn State wins.)

Penn State will face Big Ten West champion Wisconsin next Saturday for the conference title. The Badgers clinched that division when Nebraska lost to Iowa Friday. Both teams will enter 10-2 overall, while Wisconsin has one more conference loss than Penn State. The winner isn’t assured of a Playoff spot but will have a good shot at one.

Michigan would’ve clinched the East by beating Ohio State, because the Wolverines would’ve finished ahead of Ohio State and been guaranteed at least a tiebreaker advantage on Penn State. But the Wolverines’ loss knocked them out of the conference race and most likely the Playoff, too.