Jerry Sandusky: Is Penn State's 2012 Season Already a Lost Cause?

This has been a very tough week for the Penn State football team and university as a whole. If you haven't heard by now, former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky has been accused of allegedly molesting young boys and legendary head coach Joe Paterno has been fired because of it.

Penn State was the frontrunner to win the Leaders division and had a great shot at the Big Ten title before this incident was brought up. Now, after a loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers, the Wisconsin Badgers are right on the Nittany Lions' heels.

The road doesn't get any easier for this Penn State team as it heads to Ohio this week to take on an improved Ohio State Buckeyes team. The Buckeyes were shocked last week against Purdue, but before that nearly beat Nebraska and won games against Illinois and Wisconsin.

That will be a very tough game for Penn State.

Then the Nittany Lions take on the Badgers in Wisconsin, which is a matchup that doesn't look too good for Penn State. Wisconsin scores a ton of points, and that's something that the Nittany Lions struggle to do.

The Big Ten title may be out of reach as these are two tough matchups that the Nittany Lions are facing, but maybe going on the road will be good for this team. Getting away from the Penn State campus and being able to clear their head could work wonders for the Nittany Lions.

And that may be exactly why this Penn State season isn't a lost cause. Although the Nittany Lions season may go downhill from here, it does provide the team and students a few hours to take their minds off of something else as they go through a tough time.

The season may be lost from a football standpoint, but at this time, it's so much more than that.

Randy Chambers is a B/R Featured Columnist that covers College Football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail]

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