Nebraska vs. Penn State: Bo Pelini Comments on the Penn State Scandal

On Saturday, the Nebraska Cornhuskers beat the Penn State Nittany Lions 17-14 on the road at Happy Valley. It was a pretty big win for the Cornhuskers, as they needed it to keep pace in the Big Ten Legends division.

But considering the circumstances at work, the fact that Nebraska won the game was pretty much an afterthought. The focus in Happy Valley revolved around the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse allegations, and it was weighing heavily on the crowd of 100,000 packed in Beaver Stadium.

Apparently, Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini thought his team should have never made the trip.

In case you missed it, Pelini spoke for the cameras after the game on Saturday, and one of the first things he said was that the game should not have taken place at all.

"I'll be honest with you, going into the football game, I didn't think the game should have been played. For a lot of different reasons," Pelini said.

Pelini would go on to explain that he views himself first and foremost as an educator. He said that the situation going on at Penn State was basically too big for football, and it would have been put in perspective had the game been called off.

The obvious counterpoint here is that the Penn State community truly needed this game to be played. Moreover, canceling the game would have essentially been a punishment for the Nittany Lions football team, which is entirely blameless in this scandal.

Some might go so far as accusing Pelini of wanting to duck the Nittany Lions.

Personally, I can see where Pelini is coming from. He's right when he implies that the Sandusky scandal is way bigger than football and canceling the game would have put things into a proper light. Though he didn't say it, it also wasn't really fair for the Cornhuskers to go marching into such a situation.

Either way, I don't think Pelini's comments are a reason to be outraged about anything. You have to give him props for speaking honestly and openly, and the stance he had on the appropriateness of playing the game is certainly worth discussing.

Consider that an invitation to pay a visit to the comments section below.