re: Emmert on Bruce Pearl and Cam Newton in USAToday

I think that there are 2 things at play... first is if something is written as a rule on the books, and the leeway they use in attaching evidence to the rule. Typically, there hasn't been much pushback in these instances, due in part to the fact that the NCAA isn't a rule of law.

The second is if there is evidence, but it doesn't fit a rule already on the books. With Masoli, they tried to get around this by saying the rule in place was not meant to allow players to circumnavigate punishment at other schools. This was not written specifically in the books, and was thus overturned. Cam was going to fall in this category.