Bowl Projections: Penn State Primed for Free-Fall Down the Stretch

It's easy to root against Penn State right now. The university is at the center of the most despicable scandal in the history of college sports, and it's clear that many changes are going to have to be made for the university to truly move on from the Jerry Sandusky mess.

However, it's pretty easy to root for the Penn State football team. The Nittany Lions are an innocent bystander in the Sandusky mess, and they can be very helpful for the university's healing process.

The only problem is that the Nittany Lions are in for some tough sledding. They lost their final home game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday, and their final two regular season games promise to be even more difficult.

First up for the Nittany Lions is a game at the Ohio State Buckeyes this coming Saturday. The Buckeyes are by no means a good team, but they certainly play well at home. They'll attempt to run the ball down the Nittany Lions' throat, a strategy that worked well enough for Nebraska.

If it works well enough for Ohio State, the Buckeyes are going to put points on the board. Given what we know about Penn State's offense (or lack of offense), any deficit could very well be permanent.

Things are going to be even worse when Penn State visits Wisconsin on Nov. 26. The Badgers are one of the highest-scoring teams in the country, and even Penn State's mighty defense will have its work cut out for it. The Badgers offense has yet to be truly dominated, and the Nittany Lions will have to dominate if they are to have any chance of winning.

The Wisconsin game is going to be huge as it pertains to the Big Ten Leaders division. It will essentially be a play-in game for the Big Ten Championship Game, which this year, will be a play-in game for a spot in the Rose Bowl.

If Penn State, contrary to what I'm suggesting, finishes strong, the Rose Bowl will be within sight. All the Nittany Lions would have to do is get into the conference championship game and then win it.

If Penn State doesn't get into the conference championship game, it's looking at an appearance in a lesser bowl.

As of right now, CBS Sports' Jerry Palm has the Nittany Lions projected to land in the Little Caesars Bowl, which pits the No. 8 team in the Big Ten against the No. 2 team in the MAC. At the moment, that would mean a matchup against Toledo.

Of course, things don't have to pan out this way. Penn State could finish highly in the Big Ten and have a spot in the Gator Bowl (No. 4/5 in Big Ten) or the Outback Bowl (No. 3 in Big Ten) waiting for it.

The other alternative involves Penn State making it to the conference championship game and losing, which would result in a spot in the Capital One Bowl.

Obviously, the hope in Happy Valley is that Penn State will find its way to the Rose Bowl. But given the road ahead, I think the Nittany Lions will have to settle for something else.