Nebraska Football: How Penn State's Sanctions Affect the Cornhuskers

On Monday, the NCAA issued unprecedented sanctions against Penn State in response to the university actively concealing the sexual assaults committed by former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

The Nittany Lions were hit with a $60 million fine, a four-year ban on postseason play, a reduction of 10 scholarships per year for four years and a five-year probationary period. In addition, the B1G has prevented Penn State from taking their share of conference bowl revenue and banned the Nittany Lions from playing in the B1G championship for four years.

So, no, it’s not the “Death Penalty,” but given the effects these sanctions will have on Penn State, it could very well be called the “Slow Death Penalty.”

There have been a number of thoughtful pieces written on the fairness and the impact these sanctions will have on Penn State. But let’s take a look at what effect Penn State’s sanctions will have on Nebraska.

The Schedule Gets Easier

Probably the most direct effect of the sanctions is to make Nebraska’s conference schedule less arduous in the coming years. Penn State is Nebraska’s cross-division rival, meaning Nebraska and Penn State will play every year.

The scholarship limits mean, practically, that Penn State will be able to have 60 true scholarship players, with the remaining five scholarships offered to walk-on players. That lack of depth for a team in the B1G is simply crippling and means Penn State will face enormous challenges in fielding a competitive team for a 12-game schedule.

If, as some suspect, the B1G moves to a nine-game conference schedule, Penn State’s depth problems just get worse.

The postseason ban will also hamper Penn State’s ability to field a competitive team. How difficult will it be to recruit athletes next year when those athletes know they will never be able to play in a title game, never play in a bowl game, never be a conference champion and never have a chance to participate in the new playoff system if they go to school in Happy Valley?

The Strength of Schedule Gets Softer

Every upside has a downside, of course, and if Penn State becomes an easier win on Nebraska’s schedule in the coming years, that will have the effect of dropping Nebraska’s overall strength of schedule. In the BCS system, that strength of schedule wasn’t quite as important as it will be in the new four-team playoff structure with a selection committee choosing the playoff teams.

So if the Penn State sanctions drop the Nittany Lions down to the level of a team like Purdue, Illinois or (shudder) Indiana, then Nebraska’s strength of schedule takes a big hit. Nebraska’s upcoming non-conference slate of marquee games—UCLA, Miami, Tennessee—sounds good on paper but doesn’t appear to provide a lot of top-tier opponents.

Should Nebraska find itself in a scrum of teams competing to be selected for one of the four golden tickets into the playoff, NU’s strength of schedule will be a critical component the selection committee considers. Having a win over a decimated shell of a program isn’t likely to help Nebraska’s cause.

Admittedly, this would fall into the category of “Good Problems To Have” for Nebraska. But it is an issue that may come to bear for NU in the future.

The Reputation of the B1G Takes Another Hit

Remember when Nebraska left the Big 12 for the B1G? Nebraska fans were thrilled to be getting out of an unstable, dysfunctional, self-defeating organization and into a bastion of unity, strength and stability.

Amazing how things change in two years. The Big 12 survived its near-death experience and has put together a very attractive television package. It has inked an agreement with the SEC to link the conferences in the postseason, and the rights' package the conference is discussing should help the conference stay together for the long haul.

What about the B1G? Well, in 2012, one-third of one of the conference’s division will be ineligible to play in the conference title game. And that’s counting Indiana as “eligible.”

In the last two years, two of the conference’s flagship programs have been embroiled in controversy. The dust was just beginning to settle on Jim Tressel’s Ohio State program when the Penn State bombshell hit. And that’s not even taking into account the failure of the B1G to be competitive on a national scale for almost half a decade.

The national perception of the B1G at this point is a conference full of scandal with teams that aren’t ready to compete with the best in the nation. Not quite what Nebraska had in mind when Jim Delany stepped to that podium in Lincoln a few years ago.

Conclusion

Ultimately, Nebraska will rise and fall on its own strengths and weaknesses.

And there’s no question that had the NCAA actually imposed the “Death Penalty” on Penn State, the effect on Nebraska would have been more immediately severe, but while the easing of difficulty for Nebraska’s schedule may be helpful in the short term, the image hit taken by the conference may end up to outweigh the extra wins NU can chalk up in the next few seasons. 

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