The Penn St. Nittany Lions will wind up with a bid to the 2012 TicketCity Bowl in Dallas, Texas, the bowl's CEO has announced. That's the Big Ten's second-lowest bowl affiliate. They'll square off against a Conference USA opponent, which could be Houston or Southern Miss.

@rmusselmanppg TicketCity Bowl CEO Tom Starr tells the Post-Gazette: "We'd love to have Penn State; we'd be honored." Likely opponent Jan. 2 is Houston.    

The Jerry Sandusky plague is going to loom over Penn State football for quite a while. Despite finishing with the conference's fourth best record and boasting an enormous following, PSU offers a tarnished product at this point.

Game date, time: 12:00 p.m. ET, Jan. 2

Location: Cotton Bowl, Fair Park, Dallas, Tx.

TV channel: ESPNU

2010 winner and loser: Texas Tech def. Northwestern, 45-38

For more on each bowl game as it’s announced, stay tuned to SB Nation’s 2011 college football bowl game bidscoverage. And visit our many college football blogs.