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Bob Costas said that Penn State "ought to have the good grace" to suspend its football program, while James Carville called that "a really dumb idea." Even actress Mia Farrow has weighed in, via Twitter, about whether Penn State should play football this season.

Last week's Freeh Report, which concluded that coach Joe Paterno and three other school officials concealed allegations of child sex abuse against Jerry Sandusky, has recharged the debate about Penn State's football future. Specifically: Should the NCAA sanction Penn State, should the university do so itself, or is the matter outside the NCAA's punitive reach?

The NCAA has maintained a quiet public distance, saying only that it awaits Penn State's response to four questions it asked last November regarding compliance with institutional control and ethics policies. Few others, however, have been as quiet.

On NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Costas, the veteran sports broadcaster, said that Penn State should suspend its football program in response to the Freeh Report's findings. If Penn State doesn't act, Costas said, the NCAA should.

"In the aftermath of the Freeh Report, the powers that be at present at Penn State ought to have the good grace to suspend their football program for at least a year, perhaps more, without the NCAA stepping in," Costas said. "But if they don't, it's a pretty good bet that the NCAA will step in and render its version of the death penalty.

"If they play football come September at Penn State," Costas added, "something's wrong."

Carville, a Democratic political consultant, called that "a really dumb idea" onABC's"This Week."He said that Penn State should play football, "make money, bring the trial lawyers and pluck that chicken clean."

"Lives have been ruined, so the answer to it is, 'Let's go out and ruin some more lives,' "Carville said. "Let's take a kid, a college football player, who was in the second grade when this happened and let's suspend the program, [so] who knows what he's going to do with his education.

"Let's take every contract that's been signed, let's take the Penn State-Wisconsin game, every vendor, everybody that has a contract, every person who owns a motel in Happy Valley and let's ruin their lives as retaliation. This is a really bad idea."

Yet it's a concern at Penn State. The NCAA has administered the so-called "death penalty" only five times, and Southern Methodist's was the last major college football program to be suspended, in 1987. On Monday, university President Rodney Erickson hinted in an email to students, faculty and alumni that Penn State could take action on its own.

"As we move forward, there are many decisions that must be made -- decisions that are not without consequences and must not be done without careful thought," Erickson said. "Many of these decisions involve individuals and practices deeply woven into the fabric of our community."

Several experts in NCAA policy said there is no precedent for the governing body of college athletics to punish Penn State for criminal acts not covered in its bylaws.

"While in a literal sense the Freeh Report suggests a lack of institutional control at Penn State, the NCAA has, to my knowledge, NEVER sanctioned a university [over] lack of institutional control, or even seriously investigated a lack of institutional control, for failure to prevent misconduct that did not violate NCAA rules," Stephen Ross, director of Penn State's Institute for Sports Law, Policy and Research, wrote in an email to The Morning Call.

Michael Buckner, a Florida-based attorney who specializes in college sports law, concurred but added that the NCAA could get involved because of "public pressure."

"And imagine Penn State trying to argue that the NCAA doesn't have the authority in the realm of public pressure," Buckner said.

In the meantime, the debate continues. ESPN analysts Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless conducted a point-counterpoint with amplified opinions on both sides.

"This is the most heinous crime that we have ever had associated to the world of sports in my career, outside of double murder on the part ofO.J. Simpson," Smith said. "... The debate should be as to whether the NCAA should impose [the death penalty] or the Pennsylvania state Legislature, because it is a state institution."

Countered Bayless, "This is the most absurd overreaction I could have imagined. This is the most evil ongoing crime ever associated with the world of sports. But you're connecting the wrong dots. The NCAA regulated one thing and one thing only. And that is competitive onfield advantage. Was any competitive onfield advantage gained from any of this ongoing evil? None was."

WHAT IS THE 'DEATH PENALTY'?

NCAA bylaw 19.5.2.1 addresses "repeat violators," considered those programs that commit major violations within five years of an NCAA penalty.

Among the sanctions the NCAA could levy is found in Section 19.5.2.1.1-a: "The prohibition of some or all outside competition in the sport involved in the latest major violation for a prescribed period as deemed appropriate by the Committee on Infractions and the prohibition of all coaching staff members in that sport from involvement directly or indirectly in any coaching activities at the institution during that period."

The NCAA has administered this so-called "death penalty" five times, most recently in 2005:

Kentucky, 1952-53: The NCAA found that 10 men's basketball players received "impermissible financial aid" and suspended the entire athletics program for one year.

Southwestern Louisiana, 1973-75: Payments to men's basketball players and academic impropriety prompted a two-year ban.

Southern Methodist, 1987: SMU's football program was banned for repeated violations and a history of sanctions dating to the 1950s.

Morehouse College, 2003-06: The Division II school disbanded its men's soccer program, which allowed professional players to compete. The NCAA extended the punishment an additional two years.

MacMurray College, 2005-07: The men's tennis program was suspended for two years because the coach established a scholarship fund, impermissible at Division III schools.