Georgia won the Fulmer Cup. South Carolina may win the Tarkanian Cup.
There's news out of Columbia, S.C., this evening: South Carolina has received an official letter of inquiry from the NCAA into its football program. Here's a link to the story in The State by our old friend Josh Kendall.
Clearly, this is not good news for the Gamecocks. But how bad is it?
First off, I know the main concern to Bulldog fans is whether this has an adverse affect on the Gamecocks' preparation, and is any sort of distraction, for Saturday. You wouldn't think it would, since it's a procedural matter that doesn't directly affect the players. But who knows, I've never been on a college football team that got a letter of inquiry from the NCAA less than 48 hours before a big game.
Will this affect the eligibility of any players in Saturday's game? Tight end Weslye Saunders was long since ruled out, while two other starters - CB Chris Culliver and OT Jarriel King - are still up in the air. But while their cases may be part of this investigation, the news of the letter itself may not directly impact their status for Saturday.
In the long term, this could potentially be pretty harmful to South Carolina. Some may try to draw the parallel to Georgia's letter from the NCAA in July. But that was related to one player, who we know officially now to have been A.J. Green, and was not an official letter of inquiry.
South Carolina's was a letter of inquiry. The school has been dealing with not only the agent probe, but the Whitney Hotel situation. And the letter it received on Thursday sounds wide-ranging, and potentially very serious.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
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12 comments:
Yikes! Its seems as if when the NCAA starts snooping around, they will not quit until they dig up something.
I guess that means we can do whatever we want on Saturday since IF they win they'll probably have to vacate it... especially since it seems they don't even know which players will be ineligible.
If more of their players are deemed ineligible, wouldn't they have to forfeit the game regardless of the outcome if they are used.
South Carolina might have to hold out those players who were a part of the hotel situation...
Yay! Can I keep the Fulmer Cup at my house?
I seriously do not know what to think of a journalist that writes about the "Fulmer Cup" and "Tarkanian Cup".
All this NCAA business is really messing with my enjoyment of the season. Why couldn't they have done all this stuff earlier, during the off season, when nothing else was going on? Seriously, May could have been much more eventful.
The problem is a vacated win doesn't take away a loss from us.
So don't even bother thinking this is a freebie game.
@yearofthedawg: Agreed. At this point, I almost wish they'd just accept that their whole system is to blame, not the specific kids, and let this season play on.
The 2010 NC is going to be the team that got in the least NCAA trouble. That's worse than the BCS.
Do you have any corroboration to Chris Low's story on A.J.? Was it a case of misrepresentation and that may reduce the punishment? Anything on A.J. other than what the school has on their website?
http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=&init=quick&sid=0.7418686552337603#!/hawkez?v=info&ref=ts
This appears to be the "agent" that AJ sold the jersey to. I think I'll let him know how I feel.
Anon 7:18 - I seriously don't know what to think about a commenter who hides behind "Anonymous".
Coward! It's a blog - get over yourself!
NCAA is like the FBI in that when they show up on your doorstep they've already got you.
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