Penn State Scandal: Nittany Lions Will Play Nebraska, but Should They?

Somewhere between child sex-abuse charges being filed against former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, and the firing of legendary head coach Joe Paterno, there is a football game scheduled to be played on Saturday.

In fact, it is a very important football game, with huge implications attached to it.

But it seems like that is the last thing on anyone's mind right now. Not with everything else going on surrounding Penn State University.

According to interim coach Tom Bradley, the team's focus is on this Saturday's game against Nebraska, and the game itself was never in jeopardy of being canceled because of this ongoing scandal.

But should they be playing this game?

The answer is simple: no.

This entire situation is so much bigger than the game of football. This entire situation is so much bigger than Joe Paterno and the NCAA making money from a Big Ten regular season contest between two top teams.

With everything that has happened in the past couple of days, I'm not even convinced that Penn State should continue to maintain its storied football program in general, much less turn around and play a game less than 72 hours later.

Did we not see the sight of Penn State's campus after the announcement was made that Paterno was fired?

Knocking down cars, breaking in windows, throwing rocks, bottles and anything else they could get their hands on. How can anyone justify that this is a safe environment for a football game to be played?

State College police have already identified suspects who could be charged on numerous counts for their actions in the post Paterno-firing riot.

This game is not safe for the players, coaches, or anyone else involved in the game, for that matter. It is being played simply because of money, but safety has to trump money at this point, and it is a shame that it doesn't.

Why do you think Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary will not be coaching on Saturday? It's because his safety is in jeopardy, but he should not be singled out in that.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett made it a point to ask Penn State students to refrain from violence in Saturday's game. He did that because he knows as well as anyone that this will not be a safe environment with 70,000-plus angry fans on hand.

There is no way this game should be played, simply because this whole situation is about a whole lot more than the game of football. Unfortunately, there are still people who fail to see it that way.