STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania's governor contends the NCAA imposed landmark sanctions against Penn State over the Jerry Sandusky child sexual-abuse scandal in a cynical ploy to weaken the university and enhance its own dismal reputation.

Gov. Tom Corbett is the plaintiff in a federal antitrust lawsuit against college sports' governing body.

He says the NCAA veered dramatically from its own disciplinary rules and procedures when it decreed last summer that Penn State would pay a $60 million fine, and the football team would suffer a four-year postseason ban and a dramatic reduction in the number of athletic scholarships it could offer.

Corbett wants a federal judge to throw out the sanctions. In a statement, the NCAA says the lawsuit has no merit and called it an ``affront'' to Sandusky's victims.