PSU sanctions "worse than Death Penalty"

[Dubbya]

What a pile of crap.

Several analysts have said this list of sanctions against State Penn "could be worse than the Death Penalty." Seriously?

We had no games for two years.
We fielded a team of kids who got the crap beaten out of them, even though they were (are) the toughest group of players ever assembled.
They'll still have TV games, I think.

They're still going to have football. They're still going to have tailgating, when fans can get together in support of their team. I think they're still going to be on TV. And just watch: after studying what the DP did here, the NCAA will help prop up State Penn in a few years to "help it return to a competitive level."

Kudos to Kirk Herbstreit for being the only analyst I have seen so far who has the spine to point out that today's sanctions are NOT as severe as the Death Penalty. It's not even close.

[Dubbya]

And Lou Holtz says "I can not think of a more devastating decision by the NCAA."

REALLY?

Senile dope.

[leopold]

The only possible group this could end up being more devastating for is the buisinesses around campus that rely on football revenue to make money - that group may end up suffering.

Outside of that, this is NOWHERE near the Death Penalty.

[HB Pony Dad]

Penn State vs. USC Penalties

Penn State

Four-year postseason ban
$60 million fine, to go to an endowment for children's charities
10 incoming scholarships lost first year, 20 scholarship deduction for four years (more or less an entire roster worth of scholarships)
Vacation of all wins from 1998 through 2011 (meaning Joe Paterno now ranks seventh among all D1 coaches in wins)
Five years probation
Penn State players can transfer immediately without penalty

Additionally, from the Big Ten,

Loss of about $13 million in Big Ten bowl money, also to children's charities.
Four-year bowl ban and Big Ten Championship Game ban


USC

Two year postseason ban for the Trojans, compared to four years for the Nittany Lions.
30 scholarships lost for the Trojans over three years compared to 40 scholarships lost for Penn State.
A national championship vacated for USC, as well as Pac-10 championships from 2004 and 2005. Penn State has lost all their victories from 1998 to 2011, and their Big Ten championships from 2005 and 2008).
Four years of probation for USC combined to five years of probation for Penn State.


In both situations, players under probation periods could transfer immediately. It might be harder to expect Penn State players to stick around compared to USC players, and you have to imagine the recruiting restrictions are going to hurt.

It's still extremely bizarre that we have to even compare either of these situations. It's bizarre that the latter is considered the second most egregious punishment of a major college football power. While the fault was in the cover-up for USC, should the punishment have been that drastic for the Trojans in retrospect? Should the NCAA even be getting involved in punishing current student-athletes and just focus their attention on the vacating of wins?

Who knows. One thing that will never seem to end is the NCAA back-patting, and that requires some gag reflexing. At least the money is going to the right places.

[SC Pony]

Lou Holtz = Senile bought moron

[giacfsp]

The only possible group this could end up being more devastating for is the buisinesses around campus that rely on football revenue to make money - that group may end up suffering.

Outside of that, this is NOWHERE near the Death Penalty.

Hadn't thought of that. VERY good point.

When SMU re-started football, Coach Gregg said he thought it might be "about five years" before we were competitive again, and that didn't really happen until the last three years. This Penn State stuff won't have anywhere near the crippling effect the DP did.

[ponyfanman]

No where near it. It's ironic everytime they say it's worse than the DP and turn around say it will only be 10 yrs until they are competitive again. Apparently they haven't been watching SMU football for a few decades.

[ponyte]

They have home and away games and the wins/
losses count. No games means no games, no wins/losses no nothing!

They still get to play on TV.

They will not have to sub soccer for Homecoming.

They will still have sports articles, recruiting and rivals to play.

Sorry but the DP isn’t even close to these sanctions.

[PK]

We might as well get use to the fact that we were the first, last and forever the only football program to get the DP. An unfortunate distinction, but on the other hand, "SMU" will come up nationally over and over again forever.

[bubba pony]

I hate Penn State and wouldn't be upset if they got more. BUT I was afraid the NCAA would do nothing but a slap on the wrist. At least they did something. Let's hope some of their recruits and current players leave.

If my memory serves me correctly, when SMU got the penalty, all the football players left except 1 or 2. Of course there were no games for 2 years so an easier decision if you were a player.
SMU made restrictions on ourselves for 25 years. Penn State won't do that

[EastStang]

TV made it impossible to give them the death penalty. The Big Ten Network would have lost a huge chunk of revenue if PSU (and the State of Pennsylvania) left the Big Ten. They crippled them, but did not kill them. Its not worse than the death penalty, but its pretty bad. Reducing scholarships, 4 year bowl ban means this year's players (except redshirts) will never be able to play in a bowl which means that a kid going to Utah State has a better chance to go to a bowl than a player at Penn State.

[Hoop Fan]

not only TV, it would have been a scheduling nightmare in the Big 10 given the division setup. would have meant unbalanced divisions and the NCAA would have had to have granted the Big10 a waiver to even hold a champ game since need 12 teams by rule. DP was never gonna happen for PSU. And just like USC is back to preseason #1 already, PSU will be top 15 team within 5 years. They will start recruiting well again two years from now because those recruits will look at the future and only face missing bowl games in their redshirt (who cares) and freshman years. 5 years from now, PSU will be a powerhouse again.

The NCAA also did PSU a favor by not dragging out a long investigation. Uncertainty is worse than anything, this way, PSUs healing process starts today unlike in many situations where there is months if not years of NCAA clouds hanging over a program before the shoe drops.

[Special_Delivery_Smu_Fans]

Although Penn State can not play in bowl games, will they still get their regular share of Big Ten bowl game revenue sharing?

[PonyPlayer4]

No bowl game revenue either, which is expected to be another $13 million hit.

[Rebel10]

Although Penn State can not play in bowl games, will they still get their regular share of Big Ten bowl game revenue sharing?

Didn't the Big 10 just rule that they would not get their share?