As stated before, the release of any PSU player without having to sit out a year is going to kill the football program. Package that will the inability to recruit high caliber players due to limit of scholarships and bowl ban and you have yourself SMU 2.0.
Know you don't. SMU was/is a small private school that barely moves the needle in Dallas trying to buy their way into football relevance on the back of a small group of boosters/alums.
Penn State is not the same thing on any level. For starters, until further notice Penn State can still raise millions of dollars in private money . . . SMU went from crowds of 45,000 at Cowboys Stadium to nothing for a year, and then crowds of 8,000 playing in their old tiny on campus stadium. Penn State will still be putting 80,000 plus people in the stands easy.
slimz . . . alumni have brought suits against the NCAA, I believe some Alabama boosters/alums did about 10 years ago or so, and that involved areas of clear cut NCAA oversight.