Daily Archives: September 6, 2012

Sep 6 2012

Penn State Eligible for Big Ten Title


Guy Cipriano, Centre Daily Times

Penn State still has one football trophy to play for.

The Big Ten notified athletic department officials Wednesday that the school is eligible to receive the Leaders Division trophy if it finishes with the best record in the six-team division.

The Nittany Lions begin an NCAA-mandated four-year postseason ban this season. The ban applies to conference title games, although Penn State is eligible to be recognized as division champions during the ban.

“I appreciate the Big Ten doing that,” Penn State coach Bill O’Brien said. “It’s good news.”

Ohio State, which faces a NCAA-mandated postseason ban this season, is also eligible to receive the Leaders Division trophy.

If Penn State or Ohio State capture the division title, the Leaders Division school with the best record not facing sanctions will appear in the conference title game. Illinois, Indiana, Purdue and Wisconsin are the division’s other members.

Big Ten assistant commissioner Scott Chip-man said the decision to inform the schools of the policy involving the trophy stemmed from a media request it received last week.

Sep 6 2012

Rally Set for September 15–Penn State’s Mishandling of Scandal!


Penn State supporters will take their issues with the university’s handling of the Jerry Sandusky scandal to the public with an on-campus rally Sept. 15.

The rally is set for 10 a.m. on the Old Main lawn. The gathering falls the day after the trustees will be meeting on campus and the same day the Nittany Lions will play Navy in a home football game with kickoff scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

Franco Harris, an outspoken defender of Paterno and critic of the board, is expected to be one of the speakers at the rally.  Rally organizers plan to use the event to call on trustees and other officials to step down. The reasons cited in event fliers and on Facebook is the board’s lack of crisis planning following a March 2011 newspaper report about a grand jury looking into Sandusky and the board’s acceptance of the Freeh investigation findings this summer.  Those involved also would like to see President Rodney Erickson and Gov. Tom Corbett resign.

Those involved would like board members to admit publicly that they made mistakes.