Penn State shouldn't pass on a bowl bid

MADISON, Wis. - So Big Ten honchos can breathe a sigh of relief now that their inaugural Stagg (NoPa) Trophy, awarded to the conference title-game victor, won't be handed next week to Penn State. Not the association the conference obviously wanted to have right now. Are you supposed to blame them if they were silently rooting for a Wisconsin-Michigan State rematch?

There have been suggestions that Penn State, 9-3 after Saturday's 45-7 disaster at Wisconsin, should be done now - no bowl game. That makes little sense, even if you're looking for a big statement. Not playing the Nebraska game, leaving Beaver Stadium empty that day, would have been a big statement, a powerful symbol. Even Nebraska coach Bo Pellini said afterward that he would have gotten behind that. But allowing somebody else to take your spot in the Meineke Car Care or TicketCity Bowl, what kind of message is that?

There are no signs that Penn State's administration is considering turning down any bowl invite, and they shouldn't. That, in fact, would be an act of cowardice. Yes, it will be accepting another wave of negative nationwide publicity. But the school owes it to its players to face the music to the end, to give these current team members what they've earned.

"We could represent Penn State - and we have represented Penn State - with class, just about as good as anybody has over the last three weeks," said Nittany Lions senior safety Drew Astorino.

You should be allowed to be outraged with all that has gone on and still admire how these Nittany Lions have handled the past few weeks, even if their ability to keep going is a minor subplot, barely worthy of a footnote when the history of the whole scandal is written.

These players may or may not have seen the reports that some of the higher-profile and more lucrative bowl games with Big Ten tie-ins might pass on Penn State. One anonymous bowl representative used the term "radioactive" to describe the Nittany Lions. On ESPN Saturday, analyst Desmond Howard used the word "poison." This is the first we've heard that the Capital One Bowl or Outback Bowl or Insight Bowl operates from some moral high ground, but so be it. It's not hard to understand why nobody is lining up to partner with Penn State in any capacity right now.

"We want something that actually wants us at the bowl game," said Penn State quarterback Mike McGloin. "If [bowls] are going to pass up on us for reasons that we can't control, that's fine. But we want to be in a bowl game where somebody actually wants us there."

Interim coach Tom Bradley pointed out that Penn State got a huge TV rating. However, that rating for the Nebraska game represented a look-in at the unfolding scandal, at Penn State's first game without Joe Paterno. It's hard to say what kind of rating you might get for some Penn State vs. Kansas State matchup weeks from now.

And the continued nationwide outrage should not be underestimated. As Wisconsin rolled Saturday, a Chicago Tribune reporter Tweeted, "If Bielema puts 70 on Penn State" - referring to Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema - "will he get a standing ovation from football fans (in) 49 states?"

That reporter, Teddy Greenstein, apparently got some instant feedback on Twitter because he then Tweeted soon after, "Hmmm . . . Seems some PSU fans don't realize that most Americans despise PSU fball rt now. Is that fair to current players? Of course not."

Greenstein was not wrong. Get used to wearing the black hat Penn State people. Everybody from the president of the NCAA to the president of the United States has expressed their moral outrage, and virtually all Penn Staters I've talked to have expressed their own anger at the leadership vacuum that existed in the whole Jerry Sandusky affair.

That said, sizing up football games as good vs. evil - hasn't this scandal hammered home that we're all wrong to portray them that way, that games are just that? Don't put any message on Saturday's game other than that Wisconsin was far superior and Penn State too sloppy to stay in range, as the Nittany Lions answered one score with a fumbled kickoff return, another with a rushing fumble that popped high in the air, destined for Wisconsin hands. An 89-yard Nittany Lions run came back on a chop-block penalty. There may have more missed Penn State tackles than seen all season cumulatively, and the defensive line got pushed off the line of scrimmage too many times.

Penn State's players and coaches say you also shouldn't automatically assume their emotions finally caught up to them. Astorino said he wasn't ready for a break, and he certainly isn't supposed to care who did or didn't want the Nittany Lions in the Big Ten title game.

"We were expecting to play next week," he said.