If you were having difficulty finding a good summer movie to entertain you, or add some excitement to your life, then you didn’t have to look no further than college football this week to find the type of suspenseful action and intrigue that you typically find in summer movies. NCAA football had its own version of Leonardo DiCaprio’s new upcoming movie “Inception” this past week with the sequel being played out over the next couple of weeks.
If you’re a college football fan of the Big-12, PAC-10, or the Big Ten. You had to be shaking and scratching your head in disbelief and possibly disgust as you witnessed possibly one of the most turbulent weeks in college football history. The week was kicked off with rumors of Nebraska leaving the Big-12 for the Big Ten. Then once those rumors were confirmed, rumors of Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado going to the PAC-10 started to swirl. To make that last rumor even more intriguing, there were reports that Colorado was going to be replaced by Baylor in the grouping of previously mentioned six teams leaving for the PAC-10. Eighteen hours later, Colorado took matters into their own hands by negotiating an independent deal with the PAC-10 to begin play in 2012. But the icing on the cake was the verdict and sanctions that came down from the NCAA headquarters on the USC investigation that had been conducted over the past four years.
Good bye Big-12. Hello PAC-10, Big Ten and SEC
With Colorado and Nebraska leaving the Big-12, this makes what used to be the second best conference in the NCAA a non BCS conference. Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State want no part of a non BCS conference. As to what they and the remaining schools of Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Iowa State and Baylor will eventually do is the million dollar question. One report on Thursday indicated the possibility of Texas and Texas A&M going to the Big Ten or SEC with Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech going to the PAC-10. Now there are AP reports that Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are thinking about going to the PAC-10 with Texas A&M going to the SEC. If that AP report is true, the JV league of the Big-12 (Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Iowa State and Baylor) will be left out in the cold.
Not only has this realignment left some schools out in the cold, but two more of college football’s biggest rivalries are in danger of going away. The Colorado/Nebraska rivalry has already been destroyed with those two schools going their separate ways. Now the “Red River Shootout” between Texas and Oklahoma could possibly be eliminated if Texas goes to the Big Ten or the SEC with Texas A&M. And the “Lone Star Shootout” between Texas and Texas A&M could be no more if Texas A&M goes to the SEC and Texas doesn’t follow them or A&M doesn’t go to the PAC-10. I do have to commend my Alma Mata Texas A&M for being honest and saying that their decision will be based on who gives them the best deal financially, and it won’t be based on preserving rivalries. I would love to see A&M make a move to the SEC, although it would mean the end of a Texas and college football tradition between Texas and Texas A&M.
USC and Pete Carroll
While the PAC-10 was adding Colorado to their conference and entertaining the idea of adding five more schools to the conference. The University of Southern California was hit hard by NCAA sanctions that were levied on them on Thursday. USC was banned from bowl games for the next two years and was placed on four years probation. In addition to that, they were forced to forfeit an entire years games and lost several scholarships. The NCAA also has said that players on USC athletic teams can transfer to other schools and not have to sit out a year. This athletic program has just been given a swift kick in the nuts by the NCAA and it will take some time for them to recover from this. It’s not the infamous “death penalty” that SMU received back in the day, but in today’s college athletics, suspensions of any kind can hurt a program tremendously. USC plans on appealing the sanctions.
The NCAA faulted Pete Carroll’s program for a “lack of institutional control”. Carroll isn’t blamed for knowing about Reggie Bush’s illegal contacts, but an assistant coach was.
A few people asked me if I thought Reggie would lose his Heisman Trophy as the media had speculated. I thought there was a possibility of it happening but I was never a 100% certain. I could definitely see how the NCAA could rationalize taking away Reggie’s Heisman from a technical standpoint. Reggie would have been ineligible to play in games due to the fact that he had been found guilty of breaking NCAA rules.
Pete Carroll escaped the Reggie Bush issue, but he was found guilty of; Facilitating amateurism violations, impermissible extra benefits by arranging for USC players summer work programs with an agent; and failing to monitor the access of practices and facilities by non personnel and agents. Basically the NCAA felt as if Carroll ran too loose of a program at USC which aided in many of the infractions that USC was found guilty of.
Pete released a video stating his displeasure with the sanctions that the NCAA levied on USC. He claims that the NCAA has an agenda against USC and the dynasty that he restored over nine years. Carroll still insists that he was not escaping the NCAA penalties and abandoning USC when he took the job with the Seattle Seahawks.
I am not one to judge nor do I have problem with Pete and his decision to leave USC for Seattle even though it does look a little suspicious. What I do have a problem with and question is the release the of the video of him voicing his opinion of the sanctions on USC. Pete releasing this video an hour after the sanctions came down almost makes him look guilty. It wasn’t like someone was asking for his opinion, and no one did until the associated press requested an interview after he released the video. Carroll may have been trying to be proactive and be a standup guy by immediately releasing a video statement to the public. But it makes him look like a little kid who has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar and starts making up lies as to what he was doing.
I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend and enjoy game five of the 2010 NBA finals tonight between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics. I am going with the Celtics tonight by 12 tonight.
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