Penn State has already paid out the $92.8 million in settlements, according to Kline. It also paid a $60 million fine as part of a punishment levied by the N.C.A.A. and spent nearly $30 million more over two years on internal legal and investigative costs, according to a 2015 audit.

The revelation on Page 2 of the opinion that “in 1976, a child allegedly reported to P.S.U.’s Head Football Coach Joseph Paterno, that he (the child) was sexually molested by Sandusky” could upend the public understanding of the case. Until now, the widely (though not universally) accepted record has been that Paterno and other university officials were not aware of allegations against Sandusky until 1998 or 2001, after which time most, though not all, of Sandusky’s victims said they had already been abused.

“We note the court’s opinion states the alleged incidents are based upon the deposition testimony of persons who claim to have been victims of Jerry Sandusky,” Penn State said in a statement Friday. “We note these are allegations, and not established fact. The university has no records from the time to help evaluate the claims. More importantly, Coach Paterno is not here to defend himself.”

Paterno died in January 2012, only a few months after the Sandusky scandal came to light. Later that year, Sandusky, now 72, was convicted of sexually abusing 10 boys and was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.

Paterno’s staunchest supporters have insisted that even the narrative that Paterno had been aware of an allegation against Sandusky in 1998 — the conclusion reached by the Freeh Report, a university-commissioned investigation which Penn State has since come to question — overstated Paterno’s knowledge regarding the man who had been his top defensive assistant for three decades.

In his ruling, Glazer also cited three other reports of molestation: one in 1987, witnessed by an assistant coach in a university facility; another in 1988, witnessed by a different assistant coach; and a third in 1988, which was referred to the athletic director.

Yet Glazer found that the annual policies before 1992 between Penn State and its insurer, Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association Insurance, did not appear to absolve the insurer from covering Sandusky-related claims.