“... what does this really accomplish?”
Not sure. When I first read it.. I thought what did the players do?! Isn’t vacating those wins a punishment against the players who (from my understanding) had nothing to do with this at all? Granted, JoePa was the coach but the players were the ones who won the games.
By covering up Sandusky’s behavior, Penn State won a lot of games they would not have won otherwise. That was the whole consideration for the cover-up, keeping the football program at a high level. That’s why vacating the wins is perfectly justified, IMHO.