CHICAGO -

Cars.com decided it does not want its dealer-driven advertising associated with Penn State football, following  the charges of sexual abuse against children that were brought against a former assistant coach that have led to the firing of Joe Paterno and the university president.

The site issued a statement to Auto Remarketing late last week explaining its decision.

“Due to the recent allegations surrounding the Penn State football program, Cars.com notified ESPN on Tuesday morning of its plans to withdraw from this weekend’s sponsorship of the Nebraska at Penn State game, as well as next weekend’s game between Penn State and Ohio State,” Cars.com officials said.

“As a proud, longtime supporter of ESPN College Football, it’s important to us that we’re building our brand in a way that celebrates the sport, its fans and the dedication of its student athletes,” they continued.

“ESPN is a valuable media partner, and the overall scope of our investment with the network, including our support of other programming and advertising on ESPN’s digital assets, hasn’t changed,” Cars.com emphasized.

“In this instance, we worked with ESPN to redistribute our commercial ad units during these games,” site officials added.

National media converged on State College, Pa., last week when official charges came against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, who was arrested on 40 criminal counts for allegedly abusing at least eight boys during a span of 15 years.

Athletic director Tim Curley and senior vice president Gary Schultz were charged with perjury and failure to report the allegations. Paterno, the coach with the most wins in major college football history, wasn’t charged.

Since Sandusky’s arrest, Paterno — who is about to turn 85 and has been with the university’s football program since 1950 — was fired late last Wednesday, along with university president Graham Spanier, by Penn State’s Board of Trustees.

While Cars.com made its decision already, the university’s athletic department has close relationships with plenty of other sponsors, including Chevrolet.

According to a report from ABC News, Chevrolet; PNC Financial; John Deere; the American Red Cross; and health care company Highmark have not severed their ties with Penn State.

Chevrolet spokesman Pat Morrissey told ABC News, “We plan to continue to support the student athletes, however, we will continue to review the various elements of our sponsorship.”

The network’s report also indicated no sponsor has publicly canceled its contract with Penn State.

However, that status could change.

Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon, told Bloomberg that Penn State will likely see an immediate reduction in sponsorship money. Swangard noted many sponsorship contracts have moral clauses built in that would allow companies to sever their relationship with the university.

Besides Chevrolet, high profile Penn State athletic sponsors include Pepsi and AT&T.

“Sports brands tend to rely on their corporate sponsors to do a lot of their marketing, and what Penn State needs is people hearing about all the great things going on and the success of the football program,” Swangard said in the Bloomberg report. “None of the sponsors are going to be willing to do that, at least in the short run.”