Bowl Projections: If Penn State Goes to a Bowl Game, Which One Will It Be?

The focus surrounding Penn State should not be on the football team right now and thankfully it isn’t, but there are potentially some ramifications for the team in terms of the postseason.

Not only have some people discussed not sending the team to a bowl, but bowl committees are apprehensive about taking the Nittany Lions because of their perceived liability.

"I can't see someone eager to take them," a bowl official told CBSSports.com’s Brett McMurphy. "I don't think you want that story on your hands. When you bring a bowl team to your community, you want warm, fuzzy stories about student-athletes. You don't want what's going on there."

So where can Penn State faithful expect to go for the postseason? First you have to look at the remaining games on the regular-season schedule.

The Nittany Lions may be the only team in the Big Ten with one conference loss but they have to play Ohio State and Wisconsin to finish the year and both of those games are on the road. The Buckeyes may have lost to Purdue last week in overtime but that was in Indiana; don’t expect them to let Penn State get the best of them—Vegas has them as a 6.5- to seven-point favorite over the Lions.

Playing at Wisconsin is extremely tough and its two losses are on the road against Hail Mary passes. Expect another “L” in that game.

That would take Penn State out of the Big Ten Championship and make them 8-4 on the year, 5-3 in conference play and more than likely out of the Top 25. This would put them on par with Ohio State and Nebraska, which is not good because they will have lost games to both of those teams. Michigan State, Michigan and Wisconsin would all be above Penn State as well.

That would put the Nittany Lions as the sixth bowl selection, which would be the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas against a Big 12 opponent. But while there are eight spots reserved for Big Ten teams, there may be 10 bowl-eligible teams from the conference.

It would be incredibly unlikely that Penn State would fall that far, but a trip to the TicketCity Bowl or the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl could be in order if bowl executives feel that Iowa, Illinois, Northwestern or Purdue—namely the first two schools—would travel well to Texas.

An early guess is that the Nittany Lions fall to the TicketCity Bowl since the game will be played in the Cotton Bowl, and having a poor showing there would not look good for anyone involved.