The NCAA didn't do this unilaterally. Penn State agreed to it. PSU saw this as much preferable to one option the NCAA had, namely the death penalty for the football program.
I think that this is a great opportunity for the Governor and the legislature to make some serious reforms to Penn State. It receives a lot of money from the state, but has a lot of freedom to what it wants.
The football coach just made more headway in cleaning out the trash at PSU than the sitting governor has done in the past 13 months. Corbett was part of that 11/11 b.o.t. that acted like cowards and all the while individually, as well as collectively, had FAR more interactions with the Second Mile than Joe Paterno or anyone else inside that football program.
By forcing administration changes (with his new contract), like the soon to be ex-athletic director Dave Joyner (another 11/11 b.o.t. holdover), Bill O’Brien at least is leading.
Nerds painted into a corner by the dumb jock coach again. What else is new.
Corbett is arguing along a few lines:
1. The commonwealth is bringing suit on behalf of its taxpayers, who are a third-party economically harmed by the NCAA's sanctions.
2. The consent decree was signed under duress and is thus unenforceable (i.e. the NCAA gave an ultimatum that it's either the consent decree or the death penalty).
3. The NCAA did not follow its own established processes for issuing punishment (it bypassed its enforcement committee). It purposefully acted in this way to create an anticompetitive environment, which violates antitrust considerations.
If the judge agrees with Point #1 and finds that the commonwealth has standing to bring this suit, I think it's very likely Corbett will win.