Inventive Possibilities for Penn State’s Sanction Era Include Rivalry Trophy, Hawai’i Trip

ESPN.com Big Ten blogger Adam Rittenberg reported Friday morning that Wisconsin head coach Bret Bieleman suggested the Badgers’ regular season finale against Penn State become a rivalry trophy game.

The Badgers and Nittany Lions were paired as end-of-season partners with the Big Ten’s move to two divisions last season, and will play on the final weekend for the foreseeable future. The traditional metrics determining a rivalry are lacking, namely tradition and proximity. Still, PSU has nothing beyond pride and regular season win-loss record to play for in the next four seasons of NCAA sanctions. Offering the Lion players a trophy opportunity is as good a reason as establishing an award as other recently contrived honors.

Nebraska and Iowa introduced the Heroes Trophy last November in their first match-up as Thanksgiving weekend “rivals.” The Hawkeyes replaced Colorado as the Cornhuskers’ finale partner. CU rekindled the Rumble in the Rockies with Utah upon each joining the Pac-12. That series had been dormant since 1962. Other recently introduced trophy games include SMU and Navy’s Gansz Trophy, and the Clemson-Boston College O’Rourke-McFadden Trophy.

Thus, UW and PSU would hardly been treading unfettered ground. Since there is no preexisting relationship, perhaps paying homage to the two programs’ first Heisman Trophy winners in the award’s naming would be apropos: an Ameche-Cappelletti Trophy?

UW has a longstanding trophy game established with Minnesota, played for Paul Bunyan’s Ax. The series has become increasingly lopsided with UW winning every contest since the 2004 season. PSU has played Minnesota for the Governor’s Victory Bell and Michigan State for the Land Grant Trophy, though both were discontinued last season.

Another possibility PSU is reportedly exploring to give its players a special opportunity in the next four years is a 13th game against Hawai’i. The NCAA allows programs that travel to Honolulu to schedule 13 games, and Bill O’Brien told ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike In The Morning that he would explore the possibility.

Aside from that 13th game, playing the Warriors means a trip to perhaps the most unique locale in college football.

Oahu has offered sanctuary for the bowl-less in the past. USC played at UH in 2010, the first season of the Trojans’ two-year bowl ban, and Alabama made two trips there in 2002 and 2003.