Boloney.
The reason the sanctions were passed was because our board of trustees are controlled by a core group of spineless cowards who were afraid to stand-up against Pennsylvania's corrupt governor, who lead the Sandusky investigation while he was Attorney General. (He's now under investigation himself for this matter, by the way)
The BoT power structure had a long-standing feud with Joe Paterno and saw this a an easy way to oust him. They prevented him from speaking at his weekly news conference the afternoon before firing him. The media took over the narrative from there.
Then the BoT's puppet hand-picked replacement president signed a consent decree when the NCAA, acting outside their own bylaws, imposed these sanctions so show how "tough" Mark Emmert was on NCAA "lawbreakers." All this based on Lois Freeh's flawed investigation, ordered by the same BoT which wanted Joe ousted and which has since been picked apart piece-by-piece. BTW, Freeh's group has had at least two previous investigations as incompetent, including the FIFA which was proven to be consisting of little more than speculation.
There were no NCAA rules broken. Penn State didn't "cheat."
The trial of Curley, Schultz and Spanier will be held next March. Most experts predict either the charges will be dismissed or the men will be acquitted.
Mike McQueary has changed his version of what he saw that evening at least
four times, mostly with the prodding of detectives, two of whom committed perjury at Sandusky's trial.
Joe Paterno, before his death, said he wanted the truth to come out and for the victims od Sandusky to find peace.
Jim Clemente, a noted FBI profiler specializing in child s e x ual abuse had this to say. “There is no other way to say it: on the most critical aspects of the Sandusky investigation, the SIC report is a failure. It does a tremendous disservice to Penn State, Joe Paterno, and the victims of Jerry Sandusky.”
http://paterno.com/Resources/Docs/CLEMENTE_FINAL_REPORT_2-7-2013.pdf
Of course none of this matters to the typical Syracuse fan. All you care about is gaining a competitive advantage over a rival, not helping Sandusky's victims, preventing child s e x ual abuse, or finding the truth.