NEW YORK — NCAA President Mark Emmert says he is pleased to see how well Penn State’s football team has bounced back from the sanctions the program received in 2012 after the Sandusky scandal.

No. 5 Penn State (11-2) is having its best season since Jerry Sandusky, a longtime assistant of late Nittany Lions coach Joe Paterno, was arrested in 2011 for sexually abusing boys. The Nittany Lions won their last nine games and the Big Ten title.

“I think it’s terrific,” said Emmert, who spoke at an intercollegiate athletics forum sponsored by Learfield Communications on Wednesday in Manhattan.

“I think what Penn State went through is an awful situation and it’s still playing out sadly. But the football program is still Penn State and they showed it and they did really well. The university has done an amazing job to put in place all of the things their board wanted and our board wanted.”

The NCAA went outside its usual process to sanction Penn State in 2012. The school was hit with massive scholarship limitations and a four-year bowl ban, along with fines.

STANFORD: Running back Christian McCaffrey will skip his senior season to enter the NFL draft. McCaffrey was the runner-up last season for the Heisman Trophy when he broke Barry Sanders’ NCAA record for all-purpose yards in a season with 3,864. He was slowed by an injury this season but still rushed for 1,596 yards and scored 16 touchdowns.

OREGON: The school hired Willie Taggart, who spent the last four seasons as head coach at South Florida, to take over as coach of the Ducks following the dismissal of Mark Helfrich.

Taggart has led USF to an 18-7 record over the last two seasons, including a 10-2 mark this year. He also spent three seasons as coach of Western Kentucky.

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