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NEW YORK -- NCAA president Mark Emmert praised Penn States success in football this season and said the universitys response to historic NCAA sanctions five years ago expedited the programs recovery.Speaking Wednesday at the Learfield Sports Intercollegiate Athletics Forum, Emmert called Penn States season spectacular and said the teams run to a Big Ten championship is great for those young men and that fan base.Penn State went 11-2 and won its first conference title since 1994. The Nittany Lions finished No. 5 in the final selection committee rankings and will play USC in the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual.In July 2011, Emmert imposed unprecedented penalties on Penn State after the schools child sex abuse scandal involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. Penn State received a four-year bowl ban, massive scholarship losses, five years probation and a $60 million fine, in addition to the loss of bowl revenue. The NCAA later reduced the postseason and scholarship penalties after Penn State complied with reforms outlined by an independent athletics integrity monitor.Because the campus addressed all of their issues so aggressively, that allowed the [NCAA] board of governors to back down from the scholarship sanctions and the postseason sanctions, Emmert said. They, as a university, had their annual reviews come in. The board looked at it and said, Wow, thats great progress. Thats way ahead of schedule. So that was terrific.It was very, very helpful in allowing the team to get back on track, and thats great.Some considered the NCAAs penalties on Penn State to be worse than the so-called death penalty, and initial forecasts pegged Penn State to experience a prolonged decline on the football field.People occasionally will say, Well, those sanctions were meant to cripple the university, Emmert said. Thats not true at all. Never was. Ive always said and always believed Penn State is, first and foremost, a great university, because it is. Secondly, its got wonderful sports traditions. How can you not be pleased theyre playing very good football?Penn State trustee Anthony Lubrano, a staunch supporter of former coach Joe Paterno, wasnt happy with Emmerts comments, calling the NCAA president a joke.Mark Emmert is a sanctimonious hypocrite, Lubrano said. Joe Paterno had more integrity in his little finger than Emmert has in his entire body. The NCAA got what they wanted from Louie Freeh. We shouldnt be surprised that Freeh sighted institutional control issues in his fact-free report. The NCAA sent [former enforcement director] Julie Roe and others to train Freehs investigators with respect to institutional control violations.Emmert addressed a variety of topics Wednesday:? Emmert called the College Football Playoff fabulously successful but said his preference is to increase the field to eight teams so every Power 5 conference champion can participate.Im kind of old-school about that, I guess, he said. It would be really fun to have a model where those five champions all got a crack at moving forward. I dont know what that looks like.Asked of this years selections, Emmert, the former president at the University of Washington, joked: Well, they got one right.??Emmert didnt address current NCAA investigations like the ones at Ole Miss and North Carolina, but he did recognize the drawn-out process of such probes.Everybody gets frustrated when they go on so long, he said. At the same time, you have to recognize the system is designed to provide lots of opportunities for the universities and any individuals involved to prepare information and conduct investigations collaboratively. We go in and sit down with the university and say, Lets together explore this and determine what the facts are. The investigatory process isnt what a lot of people think, that my staff showing up saying, OK, now were going to sneak around and get you. Its quite the opposite.??As the NCAAs Division I Council plans major recruiting forms to college football, Emmert said he wants high school athletes to have increased information about schools before making their college decisions. He doesnt have a preference on changing the recruiting calendar but advocates any changes [that] can reduce the intensity of that process, which is really extreme sometimes for the high school students and for the coaches and their families.??Emmert praised the Big 12 decision not to expand its membership. Its a good thing for college sports, he said. The last round [of realignment] was very disruptive, and it had a negative impact on so many schools and lots of personal relationships. It was hard, and Im glad we didnt have to go through that again.??Emmert said Mondays ruling by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that college athletes are not employees of their colleges or the NCAA provides greater clarity on the amateurism debate. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by two University of Pennsylvania track athletes against the school and the NCAA, arguing that student-athletes are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act and are entitled to minimum wage.??Emmert didnt comment about the sex-assault scandal involving Baylor, but said of the universitys decisions to separate with football coach Art Briles, athletic director Ian McCaw and president Ken Starr was a demonstration that the board obviously took this matter very seriously.Cheap Yeezy From China . The Australian is competing in his final season in Formula One and still looking for his first win this year. He will look to end Vettels run of six straight race wins on Sunday. 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He will miss league matches against Chelsea on Monday and West Ham on Dec.SALT LAKE CITY -- Oregon has represented a bit of a benchmark for No. 11 Utah since the Utes entered the Pac-12 in 2011.The Ducks won the conference three straight times between 2009 and 2011 and again in 2014.They were the reigning champions last year when Utah went into Eugene and upset Oregon 62-20 for its most significant win since joining the league.Now the Ducks (3-7, 1-6 Pac-12) are in the midst of their worst season since 2006 and the Utes are approaching another milestone. Utah (8-2, 5-2, No. 12 CFP) will win the South Division for the first time in school history and play in its first Pac-12 championship game if it wins the final two games of the season, starting Saturday with Oregon.Theres not a chance that well be looking past those guys, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. Not a chance at all. Theyre very talented on offense. I mean, theyre Oregon.Theyre going to be wanting to avenge that loss, he added. We went into their house and had a big win. Certainly thats got to be on their mind. ... Were going to get their best shot. We know that and we better be ready.In a role reversal, Oregon is coming in as an underdog. The Ducks are coming to the end of a disappointing season where even winning out would leave them shy of bowl eligibility.The Utes are 13 +-point favorites and some Ducks assistant coaches have talked about using that as motivation.I havent directly said `underdog or really anything in that vein, Oregon coach Mark Helfrich said. Again, we just need to play together and play better. Play the complimentary football we talked a little bit about over the weekend. But whatever can stoke their fire. If that gets the defensive backs ready to go, or gets the defense to play with a chip on their shoulder, great.Things to watch when Utah hosts Oregon:EYES ON FREEMAN: Royce Freeman comes into Salt Lake City as the Ducks No.dddddddddddd. 2 all-time leading rusher with 3,800 career yards. The junior has run for 599 yards and eight touchdowns this season. He and the Oregon offense will face the No. 2 run defense in the Pac-12. The Utes are allowing just 119.7 yards per game.NO CONCERNS: Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert said the offense doesnt need to do anything special this week against the Utah defense dubbed Sack Lake City. That unit had 11 sacks last week and the Utes are tied for No. 5 in the nation with 35 sacks overall. Defensive end Hunter Dimicks 27 career sacks are one shy of the school record. I dont think Im going to have to be any more aware of them than I am every other week, Herbert said. I dont think its something we need to change dramatically.CUP OF JOE: Utah running back Joe Williams has run for 939 yards in just six games, including 864 yards in the four games since he came out of retirement. He is 61 yards shy of becoming the 13th player in school history to run for 1,000 yards in a season and his 156.5 yards per game put him on pace for a school record.DOUBT: Despite all of the past Oregon success and highly ranked recruiting classes, a 1-6 conference record has taken a toll. Theres certain fragments of guys that you can see arent 100 percent confident, Helfrich said. You cant fake that (confidence). You cant simulate that. The only way that happens is in training, and getting your confidence through true preparation, seeing yourself do it, seeing your teammates doing it and then just repeating it.---More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25---Follow Kareem Copeland on Twitter at www.twitter.com/kareemcopeland . ' ' '