Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky insisted in an interview Monday night he is "innocent" of charges that he sexually abused young boys, denying to NBC's Bob Costas that he's a pedophile.

In a telephone interview for NBC's "Rock Center With Brian Williams," Sandusky admitted that some details in the graphic 23-page grand jury report released earlier this month are correct, including that he showered with young boys.

Some critics have blamed this scandal on the culture that surrounds big-time college sports programs like Penn State. 

Daily Beast sports columnist and author of "Friday Night Lights" Buzz Bissinger compares these institutions to the mafia. As he tells Christine Romans today on American Morning, these programs "protect their own at all costs."