After interviews, the penalty the fans are maddest about is

[LynneSin]

47. Vacating the wins, to me, was punishment to the fans who defended Paterno.

To me, Paterno coached way longer than he should have. He was 89 years old and honestly, I think he should have stepped down about 5-10 years earlier. But I think in the end Joe wanted to reach that goal of winningest coach in Division I NCAA football so he stuck with it. He knew that he could get 8-10 wins a year he would get the goal.

And obtaining that goal put Paterno in a class by himself. Here's a football program that had the same guy coaching for them for almost 50 years and usually to successful seasons. It was a real pride to Penn State fans to brag about Joe Paterno.

So you are right - vacating those wins does absolutely nothing for the teams that played against Penn State. It doesn't change season rankings or bowl trips of past. But what it does, which is a major impact, is pop the big bubble that is the ego of Penn State Football fans.

To me, Vacating those wins was punishment for all the fans that defended Joe Paterno even after they found out he was part of the scandal hiding the fact that children were molested by Jerry Sandusky