It's official- Cam Newton has won the Heisman in a landslide over runner up Andrew Luck (the second consecutive year a Stanford Cardinal player has finished second in the ballot). Now only time will tell if the New York Athletic Club will have vacate a trophy for the second time. Reggie Bush became the first earlier this year when he gave back his trophy because his family received undue benefits when he was playing for USC. Vince Young, the runner up in 2005, was not given Bush's trophy- the 2005 winner was vacated. It took 5 years for the NCAA investigation to run its course and for Bush to come to a decision about his trophy (actually the case is still not completely resolved because the appeal process continues and USC officials will next testify to the NCAA next month). I have to wonder if it will be another 5 years before the Cam Newton controversy is resolved.
The NCAA made a rather odd decision on the Monday before the SEC Championship. Auburn officials, investigating the reports that Newton's father asked for money to "deliver" Newton to Mississippi State during recruitment, declared the player ineligible. The next day, the NCAA reversed the decision, saying that there is insufficient evidence that the player knew of his father's actions (all together now:
Bull Shit). Therefore, if a player is unaware of illegal activity by their family or people "representing" them, then the player is cleared for participation. This, of course, set off a firestorm of outrage and confusion from sportswriters across the nation.
The controversey did not go unnoticed by USC Athletic Director Pat Haden, who expressed confusion about the policy. Per the LA Times:
"In the Reggie Bush case, when the parent [did] something inappropriate the kid and the school suffered . . . .I was always told the parent is the child, that's what we've been telling our kids. If the parent does something inappropriate the child suffers the consequences."
Haden, not surprisingly, plans to use the Cam Newton decision as part of their appeals testimony next month.
For now, Cam Newton will play and get a chance to win a national championship against Oregon on January 20th. Then, he will get drafted into the NFL and make millions. In the mean time, the NCAA will do its do dilligence and slowly carry out their more compelete review of the allegations. Several years from now, they may decide that Auburn knew of Cecil Newton's shopping of his son's talents. Or, as evidenced by the sanctions handed down to USC, Auburn should have known about it. If so, then the NCAA will punish players that have not stepped onto the field yet; players that have never met Cam Newton or his father. Hardly seems fair.
Fight On,
Hans
PS: TCU has announced their decision to move to the Big East as of 2012. I certainly dont blame TCU for seeking a league with an automatic qualifying (AQ) status, much as Utah in their joining of the Pac-12. What is interesting here is how the move will affect the automatic qualifying status of TCU's current league, the Mountain West, and their future league. The BCS is in the process of assesing the performance in terms of top 25 finishes for all the teams in the all the leagues. This is supposed to provide a pathway for non-AQ leagues to enter the BCS, none more so than the Moutain West, home of 2 of the 3 non-AQ "BCS busters", Utah and TCU.
Get this: the BCS comissioner says that TCU's "data will transfer". That is a HUGE statement. What it means is that TCU's recent success (top 10 finishes and 2 undefeated seasons) will count in FAVOR OF THEIR NEW LEAGUE!!! Yes, dear readers, the Big East, who has another unranked team in the BCS this year (UConn, playing Oklahoma, OUCH), will benefit in having their AQ status PROTECTED becuase TCU will join them in the future. Dan Wetzel is right- the BCS is all about a few schools protecting their power and their paychecks.
