Blue White Illustrated

Penn State didn't play a game last Saturday, but its first bye week of the season was the best week this program has enjoyed in a long, long time. On Sept. 24, the NCAA announced that it was going to ease the sanctions it levied more than a year earlier in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal and the release of the Freeh report. Citing the positive reviews that Penn State has received from former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, who has been serving as an independent athletics integrity monitor, the NCAA returned many of the scholarships that the program was set to lose in the coming years and left open the possibility that its postseason ban will be lifted in 2014 or '15. The news touched off a national debate over the propriety of the sanctions, with some fans and commentators charging that the NCAA should have let its original penalties stand and others arguing that those penalties should have never been imposed in the first place. But on Penn State's campus, there wasn't much disagreement. Coach Bill O'Brien called it "tremendous news," and his enthusiasm was echoed by administrators, athletes and students alike. "We're happy right now for our student-athletes who are here and our football program," O'Brien said. "They're a resilient bunch of kids. We're happy for our people here at Penn State and the people who have worked extremely hard to implement the recommendations of the Freeh report. We're just trying to take it one day at a time and working as hard as we can and continuing every single day to try to do the right thing." The Nittany Lions are still going to pay a stiff price for the charges that high-ranking university officials mishandled allegations of sexual misconduct against Sandusky. They've already lost 10 scholarships and will lose five more in 2014. Moreover, they won't be going bowling this season under any circumstances, the second year in a row they've been forced to sit out the postseason. But some of the words that were tossed around immediately after the sanctions were levied, words like crippling and devastating, may no longer apply, as the duration and intensity of the penalties have been significantly lessened with the changes that have been made to the original consent decree O C T O B E R COMPARING THE CONSENT DECREES The NCAA's decision to modify its original consent decree with Penn State will significantly change the way the Nittany Lions are able to recruit in the coming years and is expected to have a major impact on the team's on-field fortunes. Below is a breakdown of how the old and new agreements compare. Initial scholarships OLD Penn State was permitted only 15 scholarships per year beginning with the 2013-14 academic year and continuing through 2016-17. Under the terms of the original consent decree, Penn State would not have been able to sign a full 25member class until 2017. NEW The Nittany Lions will be allowed 20 scholarships in 2014-15, and that total will rise to 25 per year beginning in 2015-16. All told, Penn State will lose 15 scholarships due to the sanctions: the 10 it has already lost and the five it will lose next year. Total scholarships OLD Penn State was required to trim its scholarship roster to 65 players by 2014, and that cap was to remain in place through the 2017 season. NEW The Lions will be permitted to have 75 scholarship players in 2014, 80 in 2015 and a full complement of 85 players beginning in 2016. Bowl eligibility OLD The Nittany Lions were declared ineligible for bowl competition for four years beginning in 2012. The Big Ten followed suit by ruling that the Lions would not be permitted to take part in the league's championship game until 2016. NEW The NCAA did not lift its bowl ban but did leave open the possibility of further reductions in the sanctions, provided that independent athletics monitor George Mitchell continues to make positive reports on the university's efforts to implement the recommendations contained in the Freeh report. The NCAA stated that its executive committee "may consider additional mitigation of the postseason ban in the future depending upon Penn State's continued progress. " Fine OLD Penn State was fined $60 million, to be paid in five annual installments of $12 million beginning in 2012. The NCAA called for the money to be used in the fight against child abuse. NEW The fine remains in place, although it is subject to an ongoing legal dispute over where the money will be spent. Pennsylvania Sen. Jake Corman and Treasurer Rob McCord filed suit against the NCAA, arguing that the funds should be used in Pennsylvania, where Jerry Sandusky's crimes ocurred. The NCAA argued that the suit was unconstitutional, but the state Commonwealth Court rejected that argument in September. Vacated victories OLD Penn State was stripped of 112 victories from 1998 to 2011. All but one of those wins belonged to Joe Paterno, dropping him from No. 1 in all-time college coaching victories to No. 12, with 298. NEW This penalty has not been modified. 2 , 2 0 1 3 13 12 BL UE W HI T EON L I N E . COM

• Cover