Morning Six Pack: July 17, 2012

SEC Media Days get cracked open today. Enjoy these six college football stories from around the country.

Mark Emmert’s comments indicate heavy sanctions may be in store for Penn State

Emmert gave a candid interview Monday on PBS' "Tavis Smiley," claiming that he still is waiting for Penn State's official response to the Freeh report and acknowledging that the NCAA has not eliminated the possibility of imposing severe sanctions against the school's storied football program.

"I've never seen anything as egregious as this in terms of just overall conduct and behavior inside a university and hope never to see it again," Emmert said during the interview. "What the appropriate penalties are, if there are determinations of violations, we'll have to decide.

And now, football begins

Despite the first-day-of-school feeling, really pumped for the next three days. It’s always interesting to hear the league’s coaches sound off.

Auburn Receivers: two good guys, others a little below par

Auburn is hoping experience equals skill at receiver this fall. Wideout Emory Blake and tight end Philip Lutzenkirchen would start for every team in the league…

Jones, South Alabama ready to test mettle against toughest schedule yet

Fans and media look at the schedule, look at the number of years South Alabama has played football, then look at head coach Joey Jones for answers.

Cristobal turns Florida International around, and himself into a coaching commodity

When Mario Cristobal arrived at Florida International as an ex-Miami national champ, his Sun Belt program was on life support. Dennis Dodd says two bowl appearances later, the big time is knocking at Cristobal's door.

Quotable:

If Penn State were to nix its football program for the 2012 season, 12 teams would be missing a game with no way to fill the open date with just two weeks before fall camp starts. Included on that schedule are a couple Big Ten teams that have the potential to play in BCS bowls. But — outside of the automatic bid — how does one determine whether an 11-0 Big Ten team is a better at-large candidate than a 12-0 or 11-1 team from another conference? It becomes an impossible — and unfair — decision.

I understand people are upset and want action and I don't necessarily disagree that a good place to start is disbanding the football program for a year or two, but that punishment has to wait until 2013. Even though the Nittany Lions have nonconference opponents lined up for the next three seasons, those opponents will have time to find replacements for their schedules. Announce the penalty now, let Penn State have a farewell year, give players a chance to find new teams and then enforce it. Jumping the gun on this makes no sense and would do more harm than good to college football as a whole.

Follow me on Twitter and Facebook.