Ticketcity Bowl

DALLAS - The bystanders at Bishop Lynch High School in Dallas who were checking out Penn State's practice didn't have to wait long to get a glimpse of the interim head coach. Tom Bradley was the first person on the field for his team's workout Tuesday morning. Bradley immediately started walking around the track next to graduate assistant Gus Felder, affably exclaiming to those within earshot, "Hey, I've got to be matched up against someone I can keep up with, kind of like when I was playing.

DALLAS - It didn't take long for the tracer fire to come. Jody Dean, host of a popular Dallas morning radio talk show, got the ball rolling over the airwaves Monday morning. "The wisdom of the invitation escapes me," said the KLUV host. "Why in the world would anyone invite this circus to their doorstep?" He was referring to the TicketCity Bowl invitation extended to Penn State for the game against Houston on Jan. 2. The circus he was referring to was the fallout from the Jerry Sandusky sexual-abuse scandal, something that has made the Nittany Lions the object of scorn nationally.

Mike Munchak, a former Penn State All-America offensive lineman, said yesterday he is not interested in become the Nittany Lions' next head coach. Munchak is in his first year as head coach of the Tennessee Titans. "I have a great deal of respect for Penn State and I hope they find a great coach there, but I am happy where I'm at," Munchak told The Tennessean newspaper of Nashville. "I love my alma mater, but I have no interest in being the head coach at Penn State. I never want to leave Tennessee.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - After losing four starters to graduation following the 2011 season, Penn State coaches have had to make some position changes to a secondary that was seriously lacking in depth. In the beginning of the spring, sophomore Adrian Amos was moved from cornerback to safety, and redshirt sophomore Curtis Drake, from West Catholic High, was moved from wide receiver/wildcat quarterback to cornerback. Though Drake didn't play in Saturday's Blue-White game at Beaver Stadium with what head coach Bill O'Brien called a shin problem, he and Amos will be a part of one of the most inexperienced secondaries the Lions have had in some time.

The chief administrative officer of the Rose Bowl says if Penn State wins the Big Ten championship, the Nittany Lions will be free to play in the top-tier postseason game as far as he is concerned. Kevin Ash said Thursday the Big Ten will decide if there is a reason its champion should not play the Pac-12 winner on Jan. 2 in Pasadena, Calif. "Whoever the champions are, we'll welcome with open arms," Ash said. There have been calls for Penn State to decline a bowl bid in the aftermath of the child sex-abuse scandal stemming from the indictment of former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

DALLAS - Penn State punter-kicker Anthony Fera encountered a travel hiccup on his way home to Texas for the holidays after a flight delay in State College, Pa., caused him to miss his connection in Philadelphia. No problem. Fera just went into the city and stayed overnight with his aunt, one of more than a dozen relatives of his from in and around Philadelphia. "We had a good visit," said Fera, a sophomore from the Houston suburb of Cypress. "I got a cheesesteak. That was nice.

DALLAS - Penn State interim coach Tom Bradley strolled in the front of the Dallas Hyatt Regency on Monday afternoon looking and acting, for all the world, like a presidential candidate on the campaign trail. He was dapperly attired in a splendid black pin-striped suit with a sparkling red tie and carried himself with a smile and demeanor that were equally as impressive as he gets ready to lead his team against Houston (12-1) on Jan. 2 in the TicketCity Bowl. "Coach, I'm Marvin Trexler, Class of '78, we went to school all four years together," said a fan dressed in Penn State garb as Bradley walked through the lobby.

Shawney Kersey had carried on a somewhat strange relationship with Penn State ever since he was recruited out of Woodbury High School by Joe Paterno's staff. After a redshirt year and two rather idle seasons on the Paterno-coached Nittany Lions, maybe Kersey thought he would enjoy a rebirth with new coach Bill O'Brien after a good spring and preseason, and starts in the first two games of 2012. But any good feelings were short-lived. O'Brien announced Wednesday, via Penn State football's Twitter feed, that Kersey had left the team for personal reasons.

Penn State wide receiver Curtis Drake has endured a year of accomplishments and disappointments in 2011 with injuries, academic issues, Wildcat quarterback play that led to a victory, and being caught up in the storm that followed the indictment of former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. But it was a locker-room altercation with quarterback Matt McGloin on Dec. 17, an incident that sent McGloin to the hospital with a concussion, that led Drake to think that he ought to step away from football for a while.