I watched one of the most entertaining BCS National Championship games since Vince Young led the Texas Longhorns over the USC Trojans. What was supposed to be an offensive explosion became a defensive battle for the ages. The end was fitting: the field goal kicker for Auburn booted a 19 yard winning kick in the waning seconds of the game for the three point win. Joy, jubilation, and disappointment could be seen all over the stadium. What a fitting end to this college football season.
But that may not be the end. The smoke surrounding Auburn quarterback Cam Newton may have died down a little bit, but it's always going to be there. Newton's father, preacher Cecil Newton, was found to be guilty of trying to work out a "pay for play" deal for Newton's services at Mississippi State. The Bulldogs wouldn't pay the money, so Cam ended up playing for the Tigers.
The NCAA in all of it's mighty fairness and wisdom (can you sense the dripping sarcasm?) decided that Cam Newton had no knowledge of what his father was doing. He was innocent with the defense of ignorance.
In a semi-related story, five players for the Ohio State Buckeyes were also found to be abusing NCAA rules by selling Ohio State Rose Bowl Championship rings and other memorabilia for cash to pay for...wait for it...tattoos. One of the players doing this was starting QB Terrell Pryor. The NCAA decided to suspend the five players for the first five games next season but would allow them to play in the Sugar Bowl. Which they won. Due in large part to the performance of those five players.
Ohio State said that they would not suspend the players from the bowl game because "they didn't know the rules." So that's two instances in college football this year that high profile players from high profile teams got away with violations because "they didn't know the rules".
What we should look out for now is whether or not the corrupt NCAA, now that they have all the revenue from the BCS National Title Game, will retroactively vacate the Auburn championship and Cam Newton's Heisman Trophy.
This has been done before. One can only look as far as former Memphis Tiger basketball player Derrick Rose. There were questions about Rose's academic eligibility, so Memphis and coach John Calipari asked the NCAA if Rose was eligible to play basketball. The NCAA cleared him and said everything was on the up and up. Memphis went to the National Title game and lost to Kansas and Rose went on to be the #1 pick in the NBA draft and a superstar.
The NCAA reared it's ugly head later, declared Rose ineligible (even though they had previously cleared him), and vacated Memphis' entire season.
Do not be shocked to see this happen to Cam Newton and Auburn. I'm not saying that this for sure will happen, but the NCAA makes it's own rules and answers to no other governing bodies. There is no such things as logic or checks and balances when it comes to the NCAA.
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