As Penn State awaits its bowl season fate, many are speculating about what effect, if any, the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal and its fallout will have on the Nittany Lions' postseason slotting. Insight Bowl director of public relations Kristen Pflipsen offered her perspective on the situation with Scott Dochterman of The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Tuesday.
Penn State’s recent child sex abuse scandal is a factor for the bowl to consider along with Ohio State’s 6-6 record, Pfilpsen said.
"I wouldn’t say that what Penn State has gone through has really weighed into our decision strongly one way or the other," she said. "We’re sensitive to what happened and obviously we are aware of it and think about it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we will or won’t select them because of that. We’ve had a lot of questions about that.
The Insight Bowl gets third pick of Big Ten teams after the Capital One Bowl and the Outback Bowl. The loser of the Big Ten Championship game (Michigan State or Wisconsin) and Nebraska remain the favorites for those two games, respectively, meaning the Insight Bowl is where 9-3 Penn State should fall in the pecking order.
Pflipsen acknowledged a 7-5 Iowa and 6-6 Ohio State remain in the mix, however, with an Iowa-Iowa State rematch a particularly attractive possibility for Insight Bowl officials, so it remains to be seen if Penn State can avoid a slide.