The Penn St. Nittany Lions are going to have trouble getting to a regular bowl game this year. The scandal has left a pall over their bowl status, which could mean regular Big Ten bowls will pass on having PSU as their team (well, not the Rose Bowl!). Brett McMurphy of CBS Sports reports.
If the Nittany Lions win the Leaders Division -- they'll likely need a win at Wisconsin on Nov. 26 to do so -- they cannot drop any lower than the Gator Bowl, which has the Big Ten's fifth selection, according to the league's bylaws. However, if Penn State doesn't win the its division, it is treated like any other Big Ten bowl-eligible team and must wait to be selected by one of the league's bowls.
The Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl would normally take a lower-tier Pac-12 team to face off with Army, but Army is 3-7 and will be bowl ineligible. That would mean an ACC team is next in line, but it's looking like all the ACC squads will be taken with their regular bowl tie-ins. That means there's a vacant spot remaining for the Big Ten teams, which could be stacked over their limit.
The Nittany Lions thus could end up in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl if they don't end up winning the Big Ten. What a fall that would be.
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