University of Iowa football fans should boycott Iowa's Big Ten game against Penn State this Oct. 20 at Kinnick Stadium.

Stay away. Eat your ticket. Burn it.

Better yet, obtain a parade permit from Iowa City officials and stage a formal protest with your friends outside Kinnick that day.

It doesn't matter how much the NCAA fines Penn State on Monday as punishment for the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal, even if it's a reported $60 million. And it doesn't matter how many football scholarships they lose or how many bowl games are taken away.

Penn State deserves the death penalty for the sordid, illegal role that former football coach Joe Paterno and university officials willingly played in allowing Sandusky to sexually abuse young boys over a period of years.

It will never happen, of course. The NCAA won't dare give Penn State the death penalty. There's way too much money involved, much more than $30 million or $60 million or whatever figure they slap on the Nittany Lions.

Football television contracts are worth billions of dollars, not millions. The NCAA won't dare pull the plug on Penn State, which is one of the linchpins of college football.

And don't think for a second the Big Ten Conference will kick Penn State out of the league. Again, there's too much at stake.

Big Ten and NCAA officials will wring their hands and express utter shock and dismay about what transpired at Penn State, but it's all camouflage, meant to put this sordid affair in the past as quickly as possible and get back to the business of making money from amateur athletics.

The NCAA gave SMU football the death penalty in 1987, but that was easy. SMU was an easy target, way before the mega-buck television contracts came along.

Nobody cared about the Mustangs, except for SMU fans, and nobody missed them when they went away.

Penn State is different. Penn State is one of the kings of college football. Shutting them down would send the right message, that what happened with Sandusky as school officials looked the other way is morally repugnant and must be punished in the strictest terms.

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany floated a trial balloon last week about asking Big Ten presidents for the authority to fire coaches who misbehave, but UI President Sally Mason shot that down quickly, saying it will never happen. Delany gave the appearance of trying to take strong action, knowing full well he didn't have a chance.

The only truly effective way of getting your message across, if you truly care about what happened at Penn State, is to boycott Penn State's games, including the one at Kinnick Stadium on Oct. 20. Nothing would deliver a stronger message than an empty stadium, especially an empty stadium with legions of disgusted citizens holding a candlelight vigil outstand the stadium in tribute to the abused victims.

Just imagine the TV cameras showing an empty stadium. And just imagine what Budweiser and all the other sponsors will think if there's nobody there and nobody is watching. The merchants in Iowa City who profit from Big Ten football won't be too pleased, either, but they can sacrifice a day's pay to help get the message across.

All college football fans, including Hawkeye fans, should be mad as hell about what transpired at Penn State, and they should be willing to sacrifice a day's entertainment to express their opinion. Here's the chance.

It's not good enough to attend the game and boo the Penn State players when they take the field against the Hawkeyes. Road teams have heard boos before. No, the Nittany Lions should be greeted by total silence from an empty stadium.

Penn State deserves the death penalty, plain and simple. It's hard to imagine a worse scandal than this one. Paterno knew what was going on. The university president knew what was going on. The athletic director knew what was going on. And nobody stopped it.

Don't worry about the Penn State players if the football program is abolished for a number of years. If they were good enough to get a scholarship with the Nittany Lions, they're certainly good enough to play somewhere else. Don't worry about that. They can transfer and resume their careers at a number of good schools.

The best way to send a message -- a powerful message -- is to boycott Iowa's game against Penn State. The Hawkeyes will survive for one day without you.

Consider the greater good. Consider your civic responsibility. Take a stand.

Boycott that game.