Penn State loses in many ways with their Bowl Game

Despite all the speculation and questioning on if Penn State would be invited to a bowl game, they received and accepted an invite to the "Ticket City" Bowl, on January 2nd.  This would typically be a New Year's Day bowl, but nothing can compete with the NFL that will occupy our January 1st.

When you initially look at 9-3 Penn State matching up against 12-1 Houston, you think this could turn out to be a great game.  But looking deeper, this is two teams that are much better than their bowl designates...which leads to quite a few downfalls.

The "Ticket City Bowl" is designated as the 7th picked team out of the Big Ten.  As you probably know from the past, there are 3 bowls designated as "Big Ten vs SEC."  These bowls will be played by Mich St., Ohio St., and Nebraska.  There is also the "Insight" bowl that will feature Iowa vs Oklahoma, and the "Meinike" bowl which features Texas A&M v. Northwestern.

Penn State landed below these teams in bowl selection, despite their record.  They fell to the "Ticket City" bowl, which features a team from the C-USA, which this year will be Houston.  Houston is led by QB Case Keenum who led the nation in most passing stats this season.  They were well known for their undefeated streak, and coming up just a game shy of a perfect season...but there is a reason they are ranked #17.

However intimidating the 12-1 record, they are 0-1 against ranked teams (Southern Miss.) and won very close games to schools like UCLA, Louisiana Tech, and UTEP.  It should be a great game seeing one of the better past defense match up against Keenum...but then things start going sour.

The game itself is located at the Cotton Bowl.  For those of you wondering, (according to Mapquest) it is a 1,392 mile drive from Beaver Stadium to the Cotton Bowl.  From the University of Houston, it's less than a 250 mile drive.  Essentially, a home game for Houston, where tickets are for sale for around 70$ already.

You also have to look at the timing.  While you think it's good to have a "New Years" bowl, I beg to differ.

First off, the game will be broadcasted on ESPNU, a station that doesn't exist on basic cable.

And if you start flicking channels during a TV timeout in the Penn State game on ESPNU at Noon ET, here's what else you will find on TV:

the NHL Winter Classic, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on NBC, at 1pm
No. 20 Nebraska vs No. 9 South Carolina in the Capital One BCS bowl, on ESPN, at 1pm
No 17 Michigan State vs No. 16 Georgia on ABC in the Outback Bowl, on ABC, at 1pm
Ohio State vs. Florida in the Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl, on ESPN2, at 1pm.

So it's fairly safe to say, the world will not be watching.  In fact, enough people wont be watching that ESPN wont even put it on ESPN2.

So....Penn State really didn't win out too well here.  It will be a good game...but I'll be enjoying the Winter Classic.