ESPN's Gene Wojciechowski, who qualifies as an unbiased observer, suggest the sanctions against Penn State might have been too harsh and that they deserve review by the NCAA. Sounds like a plan.

By Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN.com

Now that Penn State's probation officer, Sen. George Mitchell, has issued another glowing quarterly review of the university's rehabilitation efforts, it's time for the NCAA to do what was unthinkable seven months ago.

Reduce the sanctions.

Penn State and its football program have earned the right to have its NCAA sentence commuted. Not all at once, of course, but in year-sized chunks. At the very least, it has earned the right to have its asphyxiating football penalties reviewed by NCAA jailers.

On July 23, 2012, Penn State president Rodney Erickson signed a binding NCAA consent decree that amounted to a Nittany Lions guilty plea. With Erickson's signature, Penn State accepted the findings of the university-commissioned Freeh report, accepted debilitating sanctions, accepted the provisions of an NCAA-mandated athletics integrity agreement (with Mitchell as its monitor) and forfeited all rights to an appeal process.

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