Despite Derek Jeter's best efforts to monopolize the sports headlines this week (congratulations to the Yankee captain, by the way), a few other news stories have made their way to the back page of the newspapers and the homepages of sports websites. Included among these was the news that the Ohio State Buckeyes football team has elected to vacate all wins from the 2010 season, including its Sugar Bowl victory, as punishment for a memorabilia-for-cash-and-tattoos scandal. The ruling is just another example of how, when it comes to college football, the fans are smarter than the people that run the NCAA.
According to an ESPN.com SportsNation poll, 60% of readers believe that the punishment is too lenient, compared to only 15% who think of it as too harsh (the other 25% called it sufficient). These 60% of respondents realize that the NCAA's love of having teams vacate wins is a complete joke. While the school can no longer call itself the 2010 Sugar Bowl champions and the record books will dock Ohio State for 12 victories, the decision isn't really punishing anyone. The players still have the memories of a great 2010 season, and many of them have multi-million dollar NFL contracts to look forward to. Ohio State fans get to keep the memories of watching their squad roll through a 12-1 year and a big victory over rival Michigan, while the school itself retains its reputation as a top football school with tremendous recruiting power. While former head coach Jim Tressel was forced to resign, even he made out alright; he's put together a great (and profitable) career at OSU, and will be able to return to coaching soon enough if he really wants to (we all know other coaches have received second chances after doing far worse).
At the end of the day, I don't think anyone really cares whether the 2010 Ohio State season was "official" or not. Anyone who was around to witness it knows that it certainly happened, and no school-imposed ruling is going to change that. While there's still a chance that the NCAA will levy harsher penalties on OSU, many believe that this decision by OSU will put the issue to bed. Going forward, Buckeyes football will remain strong - the loss of QB Terrelle Pryor will hurt in the short term, but soon enough the program will bounce back with another elite QB prospect to join what's sure to be a perennially loaded Ohio State roster.
If the NCAA is smart and just, they'll see through this empty move and hit Ohio State where it really hurts - the future. Force Ohio State to miss bowl games for the next few years, take away scholarships, etc., until a lesson is actually learned. Will the NCAA do this? Who knows. Will anyone be surprised if they decide to let Ohio State regulate itself? I doubt it. When asked if he thought the NCAA might impose harsher penalties on his school, Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith responded: "Might the NCAA do more? I just can't speculate on that." Well, I can, and I'm guessing the NCAA will take the easy way out and let a major college football powerhouse off the hook once again.
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