re: Realistically, how fricked is Bama?

It's very similar to the Andre Smith situation I believe. Only, Bama actually played the game with the ineligible player unknowingly. (Of course, if they knew, then that's a different ball game. But no evidence of that so far.)

What, really, can universities do about these cats? Or, "pimps," as Saban calls them. It's a 2 party transaction between player and pimp.

I would think the most that could happen would be to forfeit every game dating back to the first transaction, including the NC. Big deal.