I know many of you out there are just plain happy that USC has been hit hard by sanctions.  Naturally, it will give your school a competitive advantage if the most successful program of the last decade gets knocked down a peg or two.

The details of why USC is getting hit hard probably doesn’t interest many of you.  I doubt that you read the NCAA report on the investigation, or the USC response to it.  Why should you?  All you need to know is that USC got put on probation and that’s good enough for you.

Much of the media, I think, feels the same way.  Many of those who for eight years enjoyed extraordinary access to USC’s program and who enjoyed the openness of its practices and the personal, up-close nature of Pete Carroll are now saying it was an out-of-control situation that was begging for sanction.  Typical.

There are some notable exceptions out there, however, who understand that, while USC clearly deserved sanctions, the actual penalty as enacted by the NCAA probably doesn’t fit the crime.

I’m one of those in that boat.

Over the years, I’ve criticized USC a lot.  Probably more than most in the media.  When Lane Kiffin was hired, I don’t think anyone offered a harsher criticism of that move, especially in the context of the pending NCAA investigation.

My first reaction upon hearing of the penalties was to not be shocked, as I knew something like this was coming down.  However, my second reaction has been one of shock, but mainly at the shoddiness with which the NCAA conducted its investigation.

A closer perusal of the documents shows that, in essence, the NCAA believed the word of a convicted felon over that of USC, the institution.

As everyone agrees–including USC–Reggie Bush took money and was clearly ineligible for the 2005 season.  What is at question here is his status for the 2004 season and the issue of whether USC in general–and running backs coach Todd McNair in particular–knew or should have known about what was going on.

To come to that conclusion, the NCAA took several leaps of faith.  Under direct questioning, the principle accusers involved never actually admit to having knowledge of USC knowing anything about the situation.  Nonetheless, the NCAA reverse engineers the process to reach that end, not unlike the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland.  First the verdict, then the trial.

Do I believe that Pete Carroll ran a loose ship that encouraged all kinds of unsavory characters and actions to take place in the last few years?  Yes.  I do.

Was USC arrogant about what it was doing?  Yes.   We are hearing that word a lot, and deservedly so.

But…there’s no NCAA rule against arrogance.

And it doesn’t–or shouldn’t–mean that the NCAA should be able to come in and enact harsh sanctions without some sort of proof to back it up.  I understand that the NCAA does not follow the rules of a court of law.  But its bylaws do require a level of evidence to its charges.  If the NCAA has the goods on something happening, they should do something about it.  But if you look at the documents of this investigation, four years of digging didn’t really produce much outside of what was reported by Yahoo in the first place.  In the end, the NCAA decided to believe Lloyd Lake’s version of the story and that was that.

Again, USC deserves sanctions.  Without a doubt.  But, it should’ve gotten a one-year bowl ban (as penalty for Bush being ineligible in 2005) and a less harsh scholarship reduction.  This program did not pay its players, nor did its boosters pay recruits, as we have seen in recent years in other leagues.  This was a hard-to-manage issue with a would-be agent who was an ex-con who, for all we know, was trying to extort the Bushes along the way.  The charge is that USC should learn to police its high profile athletes.  Well, hell.  Seemingly every athlete at USC these past eight years has been high profile.  Does a school have the resources to know what Reggie Bush is up to when he’s not on campus, much less Matt Leinart, LenDale White, Dwayne Jarrett, Shaun Cody, Mike Patterson, and so on and on and on?

This is all I’ll say on the issue and then we’ll go back to talking about the coming season.  I think the NCAA is acting in bad faith and has overplayed its hand.  I’ll leave you with this rather interesting video that leaks the actual testimony by convicted felon (not sports marketer, as many in the media report) Lloyd Lake:

Here it is:  The NCAA Report on USC.

As I predicted a while back, USC has been hit hard by the NCAA.  It appears a two-year bowl ban and a substantial loss of scholarships is in order.

Here’s what I wrote back in January, when USC hired Lane Kiffin:

There sits on the desk of the USC general counsel’s office a letter from the NCAA.  In this letter is spelled out the charges that have been made by the NCAA against USC athletics, specifically the football and basketball programs.  Believe it or not, my understanding is that the Reggie Bush part of the probe is not as prominent as the media has been touting (keep in mind the letter has come before the pending deposition).  However, the letter does contain several allegations of violations that by themselves are not that major, but when added together form a solid case for a lack of institutional control on the part of USC.

USC has responded to these charges with a giant, multi-hundred page rebuttal.  In February, another meeting will be held by the NCAA to determine the punishment.

So, with the NCAA on the warpath, USC is about to take a big hit.  No one knows the extent of the penalties just yet, but the penalties are coming for sure.

A lot of USC people chose not to believe this was coming and instead blindly listened to the assurances of Trojan coaches and administrators that everything was going to be fine.  Turns out those coaches and administrators were either really stupid or lying.

And I’m sure hiring a known NCAA scofflaw like Kiffin during a time when the Commitee on Infractions was deliberating on USC’s punishment didn’t help.  As I wrote when he was hired, this was akin to giving the NCAA the middle finger.

Well, USC just got the middle finger back.

Not all is lost for the Trojans.  Kiffin now has his excuse for failing and he will likely be off to the NFL even sooner than he would’ve been before.  Assuming USC hires a legitimate coach to replace Kiffin–granted, no sure bet–it’ll be back on the national stage in no time.  Meanwhile, USC’s overtalented roster can finally be put to some use, as some guys who would otherwise be stuck deep down the depth chart might actually get a chance to play and develop.  Also, the USC athletic department now has a chance do some long-overdue house cleaning.  So there are bright spots.

In the meantime, you won’t be seeing any Heismans out of USC for a while.

All the talk now is about the Pac-10 and Big 12 mutating to form some new Super Conference, as well as the Big Ten adding teams and even the Mountain West getting in on the action.

Everyone mentions stuff like revenue sharing and television deals.  But what I care about is the actual fan viewing experience.

Take the Pac-10/Big 12 merger.  So, the Western half of that conference will include all the Pac-10 teams minus Arizona and Arizona State.  A team like USC will play seven of the same teams it always plays, plus its traditional rival Notre Dame.  It would probably play one or two teams from the Eastern half of the conference, leaving two games against other random non-conference foes.  Naturally, a team in a power conference like this one isn’t going to want to schedule anyone too tough in those remaining games.  A team from the West (current Pac-10) will drop regular scheduling of ASU and Arizona in return for playing–on occasion–Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, Texas Tech, Oklahoma or Oklahoma State (as well as ASU and Arizona, too).

Given that Pac-10 teams already schedule pretty strong in their OOC games, I’m not sure much will change as far as watching that conference.  What will change is that the Big 12 teams will have to play more difficult home and homes, which could really hurt the records of teams like Texas Tech and Texas A&M who are known for scheduling OOC patsies.

What really strikes me about this move toward the mega-conference set up is that it looks like a way to get to a de facto playoff system.  Taking the winners of these leagues and having a neat and clean Final Four at the end of it all would probably be doable and yet still keep the integrity of the regular season intact.  Teams that won their division but lost in the conference title game would be the equivalent of today’s conference champs and would get prime slots in other traditional bowls.

It would also throw the Heisman race into a tizzy.  The weekly mega-matchups in all these super conferences would really heighten the excitement.

I’ve always been a proponent for uniformity in college football scheduling.  Either every conference should have a title game, or none of them should.  So now it looks like most of the conferences will have that title game, which means that it will give more Heisman candidates more chances to pile up yards and impress voters while giving a boost to candidates from the Big Ten and Pac-10 who have always been at a disadvantage.  Give Toby Gerhart one more game last year and he just might’ve won that Heisman after all.

Even though I am a dye-in-the-wool college football traditionalist,  I find the proposed mergers intriguing.  I foresee better matchups, more competition and more excitement without slouching toward Gomorrah (and by Gomorrah, I mean an NFL-style system).

Lots of talk out there about what the Heisman Trust is going to do with Reggie Bush’s Heisman should he be declared ineligible.

I’m in the process of gauging Heisman voter opinion on the matter.  I’ll have a full report tomorrow on what they are thinking.