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

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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, currently matches the top two te ...

, 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, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

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 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 Penn State Lady Lions basketball, Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot ...

, champions of the East Division and the

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the College athletics in the United States, athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I ...

, 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 and UCF were the only remaining undefeated FBS teams in the nation, after

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

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

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual single-elimination tournament, knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, D ...

, 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

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

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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 U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

, 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

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

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. In 2021 and 2022, Georgia and TCU each lost their conference championship games but still made the Playoff. Georgia lost to Alabama 41-24 but both made the Playoff with 12-1 records (The Bulldogs would get revenge by defeating the Crimson Tide 33-18 in the National Championship). TCU lost to Kansas State 31-28 in overtime but still made the Playoff anyway because they beat the Wildcats 38-28 in the regular season.

References

{{Wisconsin Badgers football navbox

Championship Game A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world championships, and ...

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

2010s in Indianapolis