As if vacating over a decade’s worth of victories from the history books didn’t hurt Penn State fans enough, the Nittany Lions will have to return their hardware from those games.
‘Per the NCAA consent decree, all football team trophies won from 1998-2011 are to be returned to the awarding authority and we plan to do so,’ Penn State spokesman Jeff Nelson said.
Penn State won six bowl games during that time: the Outback (1999, 2007), Alamo (1999, 2007), Orange (2006) and Capital One (2010), respectively.
Bowl games or BCS games are not run by the NCAA, which recently handed down harsh sanctions agianst the Nittany Lions as a result of the child sex abuse allegations against former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.
Penn State isn’t the first to have its hardware taken away.
In 2010, 2005 Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush was required to return his Heisman Trophy in the wake of NCAA violations committed by USC.
