Morning Wrap: NCAA Bluffed Penn St Into Accepting Sanctions

((ht: cbssports.com))

Oh, great. The NCAA did something stupid again. We are shocked.

A group of NCAA internal e-mails shows that their may have been some deceit involved when the organization levied one of the strongest penalties of all time to Penn State back in 2012 on the heels of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

The revelations here aren't that stunning. We knew going in the NCAA was moving into uncharted territory by sanctioning a school for the criminal acts of one guy and for the allegations of a cover-up.
That had never been done before, which most of us knew.

What we didn't know is that the NCAA had some trepidation about it.

One of the e-mails, from then director of enforcement Julie Roe Lach to VP of academic and membership Kevin Lennon stated; “I know we are banking on the fact school is so embarrassed they will do anything, but I am not sure about that, and no confidence conference or other members will agree to any of that. This will force the jurisdictional issue that we really don't have a great answer to that one.”

They guessed right. Penn State basically said "Do what you will". The school was slapped with a $60 million fine, a bowl ban until 2017 and limited to 65 scholarships for the football team.

Those sanctions will be lifted after this year.

The NCAA did respond to the accusations that they singled out or targeted Penn State by saying essentially the conversations, debates are a part of the discussion over the merits in taking such actions. They were not out of line nor did they indicated a vindictive nature.

We agree.

It looks kinda bad, but to take action, such a discussion needed to be had.

Did they (the NCAA) take advantage of a situation? Probably. Did they have to act and act decisively, absolutely. The Penn State folks still consider it an assault on them. And maybe to an extent it was. But what was uncovered there had to be addressed and measures had to be taken in order to make sure it would never happen again.

Deal with it.

Big XII Commish Thinks Enforcement System Is Broken

((HT: Big XII Conference/dpost.com))

And the HQ is inclined to agree with him...

Across the board, Big 12 Commish Bob Bowlsby thinks schools aren't being penalized in a timely fashion and the enforcement system that the NCAA is using is "broken."

Cheating pays, Bowlsby says, and he would even be amenable to private investigators looking at enforcing the rules and laws of the NCAA. Bowlsby also admits that not all schools cheat, but those who do can get away with it fairly easily.

Here's his pipebomb in its entirety this morning

Manziel Questioned By NCAA, Both Sides Full Steam Ahead...

((HT: Feldman/CBS Sports))

Time for everyone to quote Bruce Feldman...

Johnny Manziel met with the NCAA on Sunday and denied allegations he took money for signing autographs- and pretty much denied everything...

For five and a half hours... and the focus was his financial records...

"The focus of our coaches and student athletes is solely on preparing for Rice this Saturday, and in the best interests of Texas A&M and the 100-plus student-athletes on the team, I have instructed Coach Sumlin, his staff and our student-athletes to refrain from commenting on or answering questions regarding the status of our starting quarterback, Johnny Manziel," athletic director Eric Hyman said in a prepared statement.

But that hasn't stopped anyone from talking about Manziel as the starter this weekend against Rice...

Here's Feldman on "The Dan Patrick Show"
((HT: Dan Patrick Show their own selves))

Miss. St Gets Off Easy With The NCAA

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All that worry for nothing.

At least that's what we guess is being said today in Starkville, Mississippi.

Mississippi State found out today from the NCAA what their punishment would be for a recruiting violation. That violation stemmed from a booster being involved with the recruitment of defensive back Will Redmond. That and an assistant coach, Angelo Mirando, who apparently lied to the NCAA when asked about it.

That leaves the Bulldogs with 2-years probation, the forfeiture of a couple of scholarships and some restrictions on recruiting trip.

The penalties don't really damage Miss. State much other than maybe reputation. They can still recruit, they can still go to a bowl game and have pretty much all their scholarship players.

One note--The case was resolved in a mere 7-weeks, which many consider a record for NCAA enforcement. Will we see this happen more often? On that, the jury is still out.