College Football: What Penalties Will Penn State and Joe Paterno Receive?

"Non-traditional" powers—for the sake of the sexually abused children, I like that.

That's the authority NCAA President Mark Emmert has been granted—to use means beyond the NCAA rulebook to make an example of the Penn State catastrophe and ensure that it doesn't happen again. As reporters, we can now speak freely as the NCAA will likely agree with our opinions. So, for the sake of your conscience and mine, let me be candid and speak the truth.

When you have the Paternos still pretending that good 'ole Joe never knew this crime against humanity happened, it's time to remind them who is boss—not Paterno, not Penn State, but the NCAA.

Jay, the late Penn State coach's son, recently said on ESPN: "There is no way, shape or form that Joe Paterno would have put anybody in harm's way for another win, or for his legacy or bad publicity."

Sorry, but the bad news is out. Here are some possible consequences that I've come up with for the actions of Graham Spanier, Vice President Schultz, Jerry Sandusky, Joe Paterno, the Paterno family and everyone who covered up the Penn State conspiracy.

1) Loss of 15 scholarships per year for five years. USC lost 10 scholarships a year over three seasons. Taking 15 scholarships would mean Penn State could legally offer only 10 scholarships a year to incoming recruits. That's a 60 percent cut for half a decade.

2) Removal of 'X' number of Joe Paterno's wins. I'm still unsure of how long Paterno knew about these heinous acts, but given his friendship with Sandusky, it's not absurd to guess it goes all the way back to the late 1970s. We don't know how many wins will be taken away, but Paterno will no longer be the winningest coach come tomorrow morning.

3) Penn State is banned from TV and bowl games for two years. SMU, which received the "death penalty", only had their football program shut down for one year. SMU didn't play football the next year just because their program was in shambles. If the NCAA is going to hand down something stricter than what they did to USC, the Nittany Lions will at least get two years probation from bowl games. Taking them off the Big Ten Network and off nationally televised games will scar the program almost as much of the Sandusky scandal.

4) Players will be allowed to transfer from Penn State without having to sit out an NCAA-mandated season. In order to not harm the careers of the current football players at Penn State, whomever wants to leave Happy Valley should be able to do so and not have this tragedy hang over their career. Penn State will likely lose quite a few of their current players to other schools.

5) What do you think?