Legendary coach Joe Paterno was hoping that Saturday’s game against Nebraska could be a final victory lap, but he won’t be on the sidelines for Penn State’s last home football game of the season after being fired amid a shocking child sex abuse scandal.

Beyond his absence, some wonder whether the scandal will affect the game in other ways. Will there be a return to the riots that rocked the college campus the night Paterno was fired?

“I hope and believe we will see the best of our students tomorrow,” acting President Rodney Erickson said Friday. “They understand Penn State is really in the spotlight. We should convey the best of Penn State values because much of the world is looking at us tomorrow.”

It will be seen Saturday if students and fans pay heed to a university call to wear blue for the game in support for victims of child abuse. Fans will also have the opportunity to donate inside the stadium to two charities, Prevent Child Abuse Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape.

At the same time, the Penn State Athletic Department has implemented increased security measures at all athletic events this weekend.

Another person who will not be on sidelines for the noon start of the game is Mike McQueary, the assistant coach who has drawn criticism for his role in the scandal.

McQueary alerted Paterno in 2002 that he’d seen a former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, sexually assault a boy.

On Friday, McQueary became the latest casualty in the scandal that began with last week’s arrest of Sandusky.

The arrest set off a chain of events, including the ouster of the university’s president and of longtime coach Paterno, a move that sparked on-campus riots after it was announced Wednesday.

In recent months, McQueary told a grand jury that when he was a graduate assistant, he saw Sandusky, now 67, sexually assault a young boy at the campus’ football complex. He said he reported the incident to Paterno, who alerted Athletic Director Timothy Curley, Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly said earlier this week.

Curley and another university official who learned of the 2002 incident, Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz, have been charged with failing to report the abuse to authorities and misleading the grand jury investigating Sandusky’s conduct. Both vacated their positions, Curley by taking an administrative leave, and Schultz by returning to retirement.

Neither Paterno, 84, nor McQueary is criminally charged.

Paterno’s son, Scott, released a statement saying that the former coach has retained a lawyer and will be making no more public comments on the case.

Paterno is “experiencing a range of powerful emotions,” his son said.

On Friday, Erickson announced that he and newly named Athletic Director Mark Sherburne had put McQueary on administrative leave. A day earlier, the school athletic department said he would not coach in Saturday’s game against Nebraska due to “multiple threats” against him.

“It became clear that Coach McQueary could not function in this role, under these circumstances,” Erickson said.

Sandusky, the football team’s defensive coordinator between 1977 and 1999, was taken into custody Saturday for allegedly sexually assaulting children.

Sandusky, who is free on $100,000 bail, disputes the 23-page grand jury summary of graphic testimony describing the alleged crimes between 1994 and 2009, his attorney, Joseph Amendola, has said.

On Friday, the lawyer said a rock had been thrown through a window at Sandusky’s home.

The scandal has stirred an uproar and a flurry of action over how Penn State athletic and administrative officials handled the matter.

Erickson said Friday that he’ll appoint an ethics officer to report directly to him. He added that he wants to encourage openness and dialogue among the school’s 96,000 students so that they do not hesitate to report such allegations.

“Never again should anyone at Penn State — regardless of their position — feel scared to do the right thing,” he said.

Earlier, he announced the creation of a committee to review sexual abuse allegations at the school — an inquiry that its chairman, Kenneth Frazier, promised Friday would be “rigorous, objective and impartial.” State Education Secretary Ronald Tomalis will serve as vice chairman, it was announced at a board meeting.

Erickson’s predecessor was Graham Spanier, who initially had voiced support for Curley and Schultz and later was removed from office by a unanimous vote of the board of trustees.

Meanwhile, students held a candlelight vigil Friday night on the University Park campus — the same place where, two days earlier, others rioted after the university’s trustees fired Paterno. The vigil is one of several efforts aimed at bringing attention to child sexual abuse.

“We are just as horrified, if not more, than a lot of people,” said senior Kyle Harris, 21, a vigil organizer. “We want to make an impact. We want to show these kids we care.”

The Foundation to Abolish Child Abuse is planning its own vigil between 4 and 6 p.m. Saturday “in support of all victims/survivors of childhood sexual abuse,” according to a statement.

With a record of 8-1, Penn State is ranked atop the Big Ten and is ranked No. 12 in the country, potentially in the position to play in a premier Bowl Championship Series contest. The team faces the 19th-ranked Cornhuskers at Beaver Stadium.

CNN’s Joe Sterling and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.