All I can say is that if Jacory Harris can get handed CASH from Nevil multiple times at scUM and get sat down by the NCAA for ONE GAME, then Shariff has already SERVED whatever sanction the NCAA should levy--and even THAT was done as a precaution preemptively by UF. I know that WE are just "dotting the i's blah blah blah blah...", but THIS one looks like they're trying to look tough going after UNC, with no regard for its impact on a powerless, penniless kid who is "just collateral damage" after-the-fact. More and more, the NCAA look like bullies who only choose to "get serious" when they make a big show of attacking the weak--while institutions like Miami, Auburn, OSU and their big-name stars are allowed to somehow duck ALL punishment if possible, and given relatively soft treatment if not.
When are the major colleges going to wake up and just walk away from these parasites? The ones who are dirty, probably never, not unless they HAVE to if they themselves want to keep "playing with the big boys". In other words, it is left to the institutions with Head Coaches and AD's who are trying to do things the right way, and see themselves losing ground to the kinds of programs like those named above, that will HAVE to lead the way. I know I keep bringing this up, but that is because it seems a simple and obvious basic truth: At some point, the top 60 or so college football programs (that "4 x 16-team superconference" we keep hearing about sounds pretty close) will likely leave the NCAA to form their own "College Football Championship Association (CFCA)"--and in so doing, done right, will not only solve the "Play-off for No. 1" controversy once and for all (much to the satisfaction of American sports fans AND the participating institutions' bottom-lines!), but give them all a fresh start at re-establishing consistent and uncorrupted order and fairness to the rules, behavior and potential sanctions regarding eligibility and recruitment of "student athletes". In fact, the most important AND most difficult part of this whole reorganization will be a practical redefining of exactly that term: What exactly will be the "duties and rights" of these "student athletes"?; How and to what degree should they be compensated in this new reality?
It is this last set of questions and the very difficulty in answering and implementing them that cows the many and various schools, who are otherwise tired and sick of the NCAA tyranny--and continues to give the NCAA the opening in which THEY continue to operate, by now outright pandering to the powers-that-be, talking tough but making sure by action and deed that the worst violators aren't harmed TOO badly, and get the message loud and clear that only the powerless will be punished, that THEY know where their bread is buttered. In this way, the NCAA may well continue to maintain its position, at least in figurehead form, at the top of the College Football hierarchy for some years to come. They like their privileges and of course will do practically anything to keep them--including bargain away much of their POWER to do so (we're seeing this already--in exactly the way I outline above)...so this all may happen in an incremental, step-by-step manner, rather than a dramatic break-away. Either way, though, it must (and I believe ultimately WILL) happen.
