The 2017 Big Ten Football Championship Game presented by Discover was played on December 2, 2017 at

Lucas Oil Stadium Lucas Oil Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It replaced the RCA Dome as the home field of the National Football League (NFL)'s Indianapolis Colts and opened on August 16, 2008. The stadium was ...

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. The seventh annual

Big Ten Football Championship Game The Big Ten Football Championship Game is a college football game held by the Big Ten Conference each year to determine the conference's season champion. The game, held after the regular season has been completed, matches the division champions ...

, it determined the 2017 champion of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

History

The 2017 Championship Game was the seventh in the Big Ten's 122-year history and the fourth to feature the conference's East and West alignment. Last season, the

Big Ten Championship Game The Big Ten Football Championship Game is a college football game held by the Big Ten Conference each year to determine the conference's season champion. The game, held after the regular season has been completed, matches the division champions f ...

featured the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interco ...

, champions of the East Division and the

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin). They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivisi ...

, champions of the West Division.

Teams

Wisconsin Badgers

The #3 Wisconsin Badgers represented the West Division of the Big Ten for the second consecutive year and came into the game with a perfect 12-win season, including signature victories over Iowa and Michigan. Wisconsin was the only remaining undefeated FBS team in the nation, after

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lost to

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

the previous week. Many analysts tabbed the Badgers as a lock to the

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...

, even if they were to lose a close game in the Big Ten Championship match. It was Wisconsin's fifth appearance in the title game with other appearances coming in

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and

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. Wisconsin is 2-3 in the game with their last wins coming in 2011 and 2012. They are 0-2 against the Buckeyes.

Ohio State Buckeyes

The #8 Ohio State Buckeyes represented the East Division of the Big Ten and came into the game with an overall record of 10-2 and a conference record of 8-1. Their two losses came from #2 Oklahoma and

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

, and the team had strong victories over Penn State and Michigan State. It was the Buckeyes' third appearance in the title game with the others coming in

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and

. Ohio State is 2-1 in the game including a 2-0 against Wisconsin.

Game summary

Statistics

College Football Playoff controversy

Wisconsin was upset by the Buckeyes, losing by 6 points. Surprisingly, neither the Badgers nor the Buckeyes would get a playoff spot, despite the former having a 12–1 record (tied for the best in the nation) and the latter having a conference championship. Instead the fourth playoff spot ended up going to Alabama (who would eventually win the national championship game over Georgia). Such a move shocked several pundits, who believed Wisconsin could survive a close loss and still make the playoff at a lower seed. (If Wisconsin won, they would have all but assumed the No. 1 seed.) Wisconsin went undefeated in the regular season, while Clemson and Oklahoma had a sole loss to Syracuse and Iowa State, respectively. Some analysts argued that Ohio State was left out because Penn State, who was a 2-loss conference champion the previous year, was also left out. Conversely, Auburn (who was 10-2) was ranked No. 2 heading into the SEC Championship, and if they won, they would have gotten a bid. This could be viewed as an example of committee bias towards the SEC. Others have argued that Auburn's case was different, as during the regular season, it beat the two teams that would eventually go on to play in the National Championship (Georgia and Alabama). A similar situation happened in 2015, where Iowa was 12–0 going into the 2015 Big Ten Football Championship Game, before falling to Michigan State and getting knocked out of the playoff. Many fans have argued that the playoff committee has bias against the Big Ten, since the No. 5 seed in 2015, 2016, and 2017 was a Big Ten team. In the CFP era, until the 2020 season, no conference championship loser made the College Football Playoff. Until then, it was common knowledge that a loss in the Conference Championship Game all but eliminated a team from the top 4 in the final CFP rankings.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2017 Big Ten Football Championship Game

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

Big Ten Football Championship Game Ohio State Buckeyes football games Wisconsin Badgers football games

Big Ten Football Champ 2010s in Indianapolis