How fitting is it that just a couple of days after college football announced the end of conference championship games, Penn State is set to honor the team that has it's lone trophy over the 15-year span of the Big Ten Championship Game.

Saturday against the Minnesota Golden Gophers is the official honoring of that 2016 season that was one of the best in the history of Penn State football.

After they got trounced by Michigan in week three, the Nittany Lions turned the heat all the way up. They took down the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes before destroying the rest of the teams on their schedule.

Thirty-plus-point wins over Purdue, Iowa, Indiana, Rutgers, and Michigan State set up a trip to Indianapolis to take on the Wisconsin Badgers. On the other side of that game is a hopeful trip to Pasadena, California, for the Rose Bowl.

That game didn't get off to the best start, as the Nittany Lions trailed Wisconsin early, 28-7. Then, Trace McSorley went off. He finished with 384 yards and 4 touchdowns to help them climb back.

Penn State football announced that it will honor the 10th anniversary of the 2016 Big Ten Championship team on Saturday vs. Minnesota.
The Nittany Lions' overtime victory against the Golden Gophers that season sparked a 9-game winning streak that culminated in the conference… pic.twitter.com/JQ6wOGsg4M

— Basic Blues Nation (@basicblues) November 12, 2026

They relied on Saquon Barkley, who did his thing, rushing for 83 yards and a touchdown. It was a tough day for him, but it didn't matter because the pass game was on. Saneed Blacknail led the way at wide receiver with 6 catches for 155 yards and two touchdowns.

Chris Godwin chipped in 3 catches for 33 yards as well.

The Nittany Lions climbed all the way back to defeat the Badgers by a final score of 38-31 to win the Big Ten Championship.

That set up an amazing Rose Bowl game between them and the USC Trojans, which turned out to be just that, one of the greatest Rose Bowls ever played.

Penn State went down to Sam Darnold's USC Trojans by a final score of 52-49. The Nittany Lions went down on the back of Barkley, who had one of the best games of his Penn State career. He finished with 194 yards on 25 carries, adding 2 touchdowns to the mix.

He had a long run of a 79 yard touchdown in that game.

That Penn State team didn't win the title and didn't win the Rose Bowl, but it was one of the best teams ever at Penn State. Had they not slipped up against Pitt early in the year, they would have had a chance to make the College Football Playoff, but alas, they were still great.

They get to be honored on the 10 year anniversary of that Big Ten Championship team.

Source: Yahoo Sports