Today is a pretty big day in the world of college football. Penn State did not receive the "death penalty" but it was slammed pretty hard by the NCAA. These are the high-level penalties...

• Four-year post season ban which ties for the longest post season ban in NCAA history.
  
• Vacated wins from 1998 to 2011! Which means all of Joe Paterno's records for wins are erased from the record books. 298 wins is still impressive but it is far short of 409.
  
• $60,000,000 fine which will go to an endowment for children's causes.
  
• Scholarship reductions amount to 15 new scholarships per year for the next 4 years.
• Any current player will have the opportunity to transfer without penalty. Any current player can leave the team and retain their scholarship.
• Probation for 5 years.

The scholarship reductions and the post-season ban are crippling. These penalties stopped short of the death penalty but it isn't too far off.

Other links, mostly Gopher related

• Fox Sports North looks at Gray.
• Black Shoes Diaries takes a look at the Gopher 2012 recruiting class. In general they have it relatively high marks, but recognize that we have a long way to go.
• If you missed this last week, it is kind of interesting. A major sticking point in finalizing the agreement between the Vikings and the Gophers for the use of TCF Bank Stadium is the soda war. The NFL has a pretty extensive agreement with Gatorade (owned by Pepsi) while the University has an equally extensive agreement with Coke.
• This heat index of how drives ended for FBS defenses last year is interesting. If you are looking for Minnesota we are down at 107th.
• Jake Short, a Simley wrestler, has committed to play for the Gophers next year.
• Charles Buggs get the Mike Grimm treatment. Check out this video of the incoming freshman.
• ESPN's B1G blog gives their analysis of the Gopher schedule.