STATE COLLEGE — The NCAA asked a Pennsylvania court on Tuesday to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the family of the late coach Joe Paterno that seeks to overturn the sanctions against Penn State for the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

Some trustees, former players and coaches and current faculty members are also taking part in the same lawsuit, which the NCAA said was flawed and contained “various significant legal deficiencies.”

College sports’ governing body said in the filing in Centre County court late Tuesday that the civil suit must be dismissed in part because the university itself isn’t part of the suit. The sanctions handed down in July 2012 were agreed to by the NCAA and the university president.

The NCAA also firmly denied a claim that it had conspired with former FBI director Louis Freeh’s team in formulating the sanctions. Freeh led the school’s internal investigation into the scandal, and the Paterno family and three former school officials have vehemently denied Freeh’s scathing allegations of a cover-up.

“Their suit complains primarily about the conclusions of the Freeh Report, conducted at the behest of the Penn State Board, and the university’s acceptance of its findings,” NCAA chief legal officer Donald Remy said in a statement outlining the organization’s arguments. “The NCAA did not commission the Freeh Report nor had any role in it.”