Well, Penn State got out lighter than I expected. For a program that had put football on such a pedestal that they allowed a child molestor to continue in his actions for a decade, I really thought they deserved worse. I thought banning them from football for a year or two would be appropriate. They really needed something to knock football off of this god-like status that it had become there. The penalties they got are severe, but it doesn't do anything to keep them from playing football and being competitive.
For those that don't know, Penn State was hit with a $60 Million fine, 4 year post season ban, single year loss of 10 scholarships (Division 1 teams have 88), loss of 20 scholarships over the next 4 years, and they will vacate all wins from 98-2011. That last one is more of a slap on the wrist to and a way to keep Paterno out of the record books.
In 87 SMU had to cancel their entire schedule for the year and due to the fall out from that (players leaving) they didn't have enough to field a team the next year, so they sat that out too. In addition to that, they had similar scholarship (probably more severe) restrictions for 4 years. Don't think they had quite the monetary fine that Penn State received, but for an institution like that, $60 Million will hurt, but not kill them.
