To the surprise of some observers, Penn State did not receive the death penalty from the NCAA for the cover up of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. The school did receive an extensive list of sanctions ranging from a $60 million fine to the loss of many of their scholarships.

The narrowly avoided the death penalty, said Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

#PennState prez says NCAA originally was set to shut down football four years. Would have been DOUBLE death penalty. That’s jurisdiction.

— Dejan Kovacevic (@Dejan_Kovacevic) July 23, 2012

Penn State president Rodney Erickson revealed that the school avoided the death penalty only because they agreed to the stiff sanctions handed down by the NCAA on Monday morning.

Erickson told the Centre Daily Times:

"We had our backs to the wall on this. We did what we thought was necessary to save the program."

For more on the NCAA sanctions, check out Black Shoe Diaries.