Except LSU has a history of being the cleanest football program in the SEC, going back decades. LSU football has only two penalties to it's name: the tutor scandal in 2002 under Saban, and last year's McCarthy scandal under Miles. The first of these, In 2002-03, LSU admitted to five secondary NCAA violations after an investigation into a plagiarism and grade changing scandal involving football players in a kinesiology class. The NCAA accepted LSU’s self-imposed penalties of two lost scholarships and four recruiting visits during the 2003-04 recruiting year and later settled two lawsuits with the instructors who made the initial allegations. The NCAA agreed with the school’s report that violations were secondary and not systemic. No further NCAA sanctions for LSU - College football- NBC Sports As for the DJ McCarthy violations, he was providing JUCO transfer Akiem Hicks with a reduced-rent apartment for 3 months last summer, improperly transporting him to LSU and making impermissible telephone calls to Hicks during the recruiting period. Martin and Alleva have said the violations did not go beyond McCarthy and do not implicate head coach Les Miles. LSU discovered and self-reported the violations on it's own, and suspended McCarthy from all coaching duties, especially recruiting. Akiem Hicks had his scholarship revoked and never played a down at LSU. McCarthy's suspension is thought to have led to WR Justin Hunter's decision to switch his commitment from LSU to Tennessee. The NCAA has yet to rule on this matter, but it's generally believed that since both McCarthy and Hicks are no longer at LSU, any penalties would be extremely light. 2theadvocate.com | Sports | LSU reports NCAA violations — Baton Rouge, LA Those, in a nutshell, are the entire amount of penalties ever committed by LSU football. The only SEC football program with less penalties is Vanderbilt, with one. In fact, if you look at todays top twenty five teams, LSU has less NCAA penalties than 90%+ of the teams listed. We're not just clean by SEC standards, we're clean by anyone's standards. :LSU231:
I'm Convinced that NONE of this is true!!!!! This is all creative journalism. If the NCAA had hard evidence that Newton was under a pay to play scenario, they would be obligated to the other teams in the Nation to take the necessary actions to ensure that Newton's play had no effect on the outcome of the division, conference and national championships. If AU is allowed to play out, go to the SEC CG, and attend the NC, then none of this true, ... just pure fabrication for the sake of drama. Point in case ... there is a big difference between the USC and AU incidences .... the NCAA had to investigate the USC infraction after the fact ... but based on this report, the NCAA is holding the evidence as we speak for AU. To allow AU to knock out LSU from a chance in the SEC CG, or South Carolina a chance as the SEC Champion, or TCU a chance in the NC ... that would be just plain unethical! I can see AU pushing forward ... as has been noted .. they are "all in". BUT .. the NCAA is responsible to all of College Football, and couldn't care less if AU gets a NC. In fact, it would be in the NCAA's interests in protecting its image to enforce their policies. ....... ... and IF they have hard evidence in hand, they would be obligated to act. Bottom Line .. they don't, and they won't.
Hard evidence is a very loose term. There has to be tons of verification and corroboration before they can take any action, just like a legal process. That's why it takes do long. They can't go off half cocked, but you are extremely naive if you believe this many people involved in the situation and this many legit journalists covering it are all chasing the wind and it's completely fabricated.
Usually action isn't taken until an investigation is complete. The NCAA is notorious for being extremely slow to react. The fact that the FBI is involved may also mean that the NCAA investigation is playing second fiddle and that the NCAA may be mostly staying out of the way for a while. They also wouldn't prematurely show their hand and jeopardize an FBI investigation. There is waaaaay too much smoke here for there to be no fire. The FBI also didn't get involved just on a hunch. Cam and AU might not be guilty of anything severe, but someone in this investigation is in big time hot water. I bet there are a few AU boosters sweating buckshot as we type.
You are giving to much respect to the NCAA, they do not have the resources to properly govern college football, or any sport really. Also it would be to the NCAA's interest for this to go away.
I know this has been discussed in this thread, but to make things perfectly clear --- The strict legal interpretation of the NCAA rule as applied to this situation is that if at any point Newton’s dad (a member of Cam’s immediate family) actually asked any NCAA school for money for Cam’s signature on the letter of intent (the pay of play), Cam Newton became ineligible to play college football at any NCAA member school - ever - period and end of question. Whether or not any money was ever paid or any favors or special treatment given is irrelevant. Whether or not Cam knew his dad was going to ask for money is irrelevant. Whether or not Cam found out after the fact is irrelevant. Now who knows the outcome of this mess. After it is all said and done, the NCAA may decide there is no credible evidence that the kid’s dad asked for money and so his remains eligible. Who knows.
If all of that is true it doesn't bode well for college sports in general. If such an elaborate scheme is in place at Auburn there isn't a doubt in my mind that key players at other universities know the intricacies and it is prevalent throughout athletic programs. No way in hell Auburn has a lock on a scheme such as this. Too much of an advantage for other school not to have taken a similar approach. As for the SEC and NCAA keeping wraps on it for so long I think the FBI investigation trumps anything they were doing. They were held up pending the FBI's completion of there investigation. Plausible... It's true of the old adage...it must be true because you can't make this stuff up.
Source? Everything I've heard says that if at any point Newton’s dad (a member of Cam’s immediate family) actually asked any NCAA school for money for Cam’s signature on the letter of intent (the pay of play), Cam Newton MAY BE ineligible to play college football at any NCAA member school. It seems like they are only saying that it could be a violation, but it's a grey area.
it's a grey are because of the wording. wording is something like asking for money "on behalf of" some would argue that "on behalf of" implies that the athlete needs to know about it, and be the recipient of it.
All I can say is that we all suffer, if Cam Newton is allowed to compete and then, ex post facto, declared inelegible and is forced to vacate wins after the season is over... ...especially me !!! If Auburn vacates the win over LSU, how the heck can I vacate this : http://forums.tigerfan.com/tigers-den/103328-payday.html I feel so dirty.....so violated. You can't just wash this off, no matter how many times you shower !!!!
