Per ESPN ticker.
Effective immediately.

Perfect timing. Hide it under the Ray Rice newsbreak so all of the 'outrage' crowd is otherwise occupied. Now they just need to restore Joe's wins.

I think it's a great thing for the current staff and players that the ban has been lifted and the scholarships restored. It was a pretty clear overreaction by the NCAA, though understandable, given the unprecedented nature of the situation. None of these coaches or players had anything to do with it, though, so this is fair.

That's as far as it's going, though. Paterno, whether knowingly or not, participated in the situation, the cover-up, the whole nine. I would be surprised if the wins are restored. I understand he's still a beloved figure, and I get that the Sandusky thing had nothing to do with play on the field; but it was going on at the time, and it should affect his personal legacy. The taking away of those wins (the portion of his legacy of which he may have been most proud) seems like decent poetic justice to me.

I don't know, Ice...I'm not a PSU fan, but was always a JoePa fan. He WAS college football to me. I'm not going to sit here and rehash what he may or may not have known about the whole mess (for the record, I want to believe he knew nothing), but I just don't see how ignoring games that he won on the field, changes or helps correct the shitball that was JS. Joe won those games, he's no longer with us...tarnishing his legacy does nothing to help the victims.
I know others will have strong, differing opinions. I understand and respect that. This is just one mans two cents!

I didn't expect my opinion to be popular, and I have nothing but respect for the on field accomplishments. I just look at a few of the things that happened around the team around the time of Sandusky's sudden departure from the team, and find it hard to believe that Paterno didn't know. In fact, I think he did a very human thing, trying to protect a friend, without knowing much about the effects of his actions going forward. Sandusky was a very sick man, and the protection and friendship Paterno showed backfired, and amounted to enabling his friend rather than helping him. It was a very tragic, but very human situation.

That's a fair and reasonable point of view. Like I said, I want to believe Joe was totally innocent in the mess. At the same time understanding that's a hard sell.

Like I said, the positive takeaway here is that the sanctions on the team were lifted. Good for the coaches, the student athletes, the fans and alumni, the conference, and Pennsylvania football as a whole. The NCAA hasn't gotten it right very often, lately. Hard to see this as anything but a good decision.

Agreed!

Joe knew.

And these people celebrating outside Old Main right now are sick. Fuck Penn State.

Yeah, as mentioned above, it's a hard sell to believe he didn't, and even if he didn't, he probably should have. He was the boss, and the buck generally stops there. Enough intrigue, hubris, misguided loyalty and human failure in that situation for a Shakespearean tragedy. Just sad. The current kids didn't deserve the punishment, though, and this comes from a Pitt grad who slavishly follows the Buckeyes every fall Saturday.