Ohio State gets a hit from the NCAA, but dodges the hammer

The NCAA's long-awaited verdict against Ohio State is in, and it amounts to this: The Buckeyes have been officially banned from the postseason in 2012 - bowl games are off-limits, as could be the BCS Championship Game - and docked four scholarships over the subsequent three years, as well as the 5 scholarships Ohio State had already docked itself more than the same span. The NCAA's Committee on Infractions also added an extra year towards the two-year probation period OSU had already imposed, extending the "We'll have our eye on you, mister" period through the spring of 2014. And that's that.

So there's no confusion, I'll say this suitable up front: Comparatively speaking, Ohio State got off light. Exactly where USC should have identified last year, Ohio State did know.

When the NCAA located Reggie Bush guilty of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and prizes from a pair of wannabe agents, it dropped a hammer on SC: The Trojans had been hit having a two-year bowl ban, docked 30 scholarships more than three years and forced to vacate 13 victories from the 2004-05 seasons, which includes the 2005 Orange Bowl rout more than Oklahoma that sealed a national championship. (The Bowl Championship Series subsequently vacated the title.) That case involved one player, an assistant coach who vehemently proclaimed his innocence and third parties who had no connection to USC. It drew probably the most heavy-handed NCAA sanctions in practically 25 years.

The accusations against Ohio State involved no less than nine players, the head coach and an Ohio State booster, none of whom denied the charges. (See below.) Not only did the beginning quarterback and other Buckeye stars accept money and prizes from several third parties: Coach Jim Tressel knew they had accepted money and prizes from several third parties, and actively covered up the truth for an entire season whilst they won him a different Major Ten championship. (Per the NCAA, Tressel "had at least 4 various opportunities to report the info, and his failure to do so led to permitting quite a few football student-athletes to compete whilst ineligible.") As soon as that game was up last December, Tressel proceeded to cover up the coverup although the exact same players went on to win the Sugar Bowl.

Today's response was hardly a slap on the wrist. But compared towards the book the committee threw at USC for lesser offenses, it is… well, it is a substantially smaller book: A one-year bowl ban as opposed to two, nine suspended scholarships as opposed to thirty. In an additional year or two, USC's roster are going to be slashed by a full third of its usual depth. Under Tressel, Ohio State consistently operated nicely under the NCAA's maximum scholarship caps, anyway - from 2008 to 2010, in reality, the Buckeyes applied eleven fewer scholarships on new recruits than they were allowed in those three recruiting classes, with no sanctions in sight.

The double standard is obvious enough. Plus the cause is just as clear: The NCAA is substantially much less concerned with actions that's with reactions.

In USC's case, the Trojans reacted by mounting a defense, arguing they had no cause to know about Bush's largess, vigorously defending running backs coach Todd McNair and consistently claiming the athletic department had met its obligations under NCAA rules. When the sanctions came down, the university promptly launched an appeal.

Ohio State's defense amounted to a considerably easier equation: This can be not truly Ohio State's issue. It really is Jim Tressel's. In reality, Ohio State acted - or rather, reacted - like a model citizen in removing the poor apple, along with the bad apple's rogue quarterback. Ohio State didn't sit idly by with full understanding that it was fielding ineligible players. When Ohio State discovered the scenario, it completely cooperated with the NCAA in acknowledging its errors and taking actions to rectify them, starting with setting Tressel adrift on the nearest iceberg to emphasize the point: When he's breaking the rules, suddenly the head coach of Ohio State doesn't represent Ohio State.

It was Tressel who was tipped off to many NCAA violations involving Pryor and at the least one other player in April 2010. It was Tressel who kept the info from OSU officials for eight months, and for two much more months immediately after the university was alerted, even whilst sharing it with outsiders. It was Tressel who signed a compliance form in the start with the 2010 season denying he had any expertise of possible violations, whilst knowingly fielding ineligible players in every single game.

See? It was Tressel, not Ohio State. That guy just works here. Make that worked here.

In actual fact, had the allegations been limited to Tressel's coverup, Ohio State could have escaped additional sanctions in today's verdict altogether. The additional oomph is much more most likely the result of a "failure to monitor" charge levied in response to improper benefits paid by a booster, Cleveland-area businessman Bob DiGeronimo, who allegedly funneled $14,000 to several players by way of direct money payments and inflated paychecks for offseason jobs at a automobile wash.

In accordance with Gene Smith, those were all "individual choices to go off the reservation." Ohio State hasn't failed; individuals have failed. A full accounting with the wayward people consists of:

• A former head coach who admitted to (and was formally charged with) covering up significant NCAA violations by a number of high-profile players for almost nine months, such as the complete 2010 regular season and the 2011 Sugar Bowl, even just after stated violations became public.

• A beginning quarterback who was initially suspended for accepting much more than $1,000 in improper benefits, and later forced to leave the team amid reports that he a) Accepted tens of a large number of dollars additional in exchange for autographing memorabilia, and b) Had been on a regular basis accepting income from a businessman in his hometown, with whom the head coach kept in frequent make contact with, for a lot more than two years after they had been specifically warned to cut all monetary ties.

• Four other veteran players suspended in addition to the quarterback for accepting thousands of dollars in improper rewards. Two of those identical four players later had their suspensions extended for accepting additional improper advantages following getting already been suspended for accepting improper advantages.

• 3 other players suspended for accepting modest cash payments from a booster, via a teammate who had already been suspended for improper benefits.

• A booster formally disassociated from the program for offering said payments.

Say what you are going to about the blatant hypocrisy of "amateurism" plus the raw offers forced on significant college athletes along with the skeletons nonetheless waiting to be found in other schools' closets, and you'd be suitable on just about every count. But you are still left with eleven people associated using the institution in various capacities - nine players, the head coach and an active booster - implicated in several, repeated NCAA violations that, for now, are nevertheless supposed to be enforced. Just how many "individuals decisions to go off the reservation" do there need to be just before the institution is expected to exert manage?

With USC, it was only two. But then, USC in no way stated it was sorry.

Exactly where Tressel's violations are concerned, it really is apparently sufficient that the university sent its beloved coach packing and wiped a few wins involving ineligible players from the books. Professionally, Tressel will continue paying for it courtesy of a five-year "show-cause" penalty, rendering him efficiently unemployable in college football all through that window. (Member schools are technically allowed to employ a coach under a show-cause penalty, but wouldn't dare because of potential sanctions the NCAA could impose consequently.) Tressel is paying the full price tag.

Ohio State? The block O may possibly be a bit bruised, but Ohio State is going to be fine with its new head coach and up-and-coming young quarterback and suddenly hyped recruiting class. For all intents and purposes, the Buckeyes have emerged from their year within the wilderness nonetheless seeking like Ohio State, Perennial Large Ten Contender, minus what may possibly or may possibly not turn out to be a meaningful bowl game subsequent January - all simply because certain representatives of the institution cooperated in the NCAA's bureaucratic waggle dance when other representatives in the institution are caught red-handed in their lack of cooperation. Which can be thereby absolved. I hope future defendants were taking notes.