re: Reverend Rabbit: "There's a difference between making a mistake and cheating"

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

Abraham Lincoln

Reminds me of Jim Boeheim. "Breaking the rules isn't cheating."

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Once again, if we paid the Tunsil's boocoys of money, why do they need help with a light bill?

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Boocoys?

Well, when you add up a few light bills, it becomes beaucoup money.

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miss fans thrash around trying to talk themselves into 'this isnt a big deal"

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It is a big deal. You never know with the NCAA and they have enough stuff to give us a bowl ban which is a killer. We thrash around because all of y'all are saying "see that's how they recruited so well" when there's no pay for play.

It is the compliance people's job to make sure everyone involved with players and/or the program in any way know the rules.

The PLAYERS know the rules. And knowingly broke them.

I have seen several Ole Miss fans post they worry more about a bowl ban. Why? The bowls are meaningless these days. Scholarship loss should be the big concern.

Freeze seems like a decent dude to me. Heck, I'm almost inclined to believe that OM did what AU did with Chizik...bring in a coach and tell him to coach the team and let the boosters handle anything outside of that. Sort of a don't ask don't tell or plausible deniability approach. Maybe Freeze really is in the dark about everything.

That said, OM is filthy dirty. Even from the little we know, the allegations are massively serious ranging from grade fixing to paying players. And that's just what the NCAA knows about and can prove. I think everyone knows recruits are getting paid, boosters these days are just good at not leaving a paper trail. And yes I know most programs are dirty to some extent.

That said, an irrelevant bottom dweller in any sport that all of the sudden becomes a perennial recruiting power when a new coach comes in raises massive red flags. I mean, how would people view Alabama Basketball if they hired a new coach and all of the sudden started signing top 5 classes, and stealing players from all over the country from the likes of UNC, Duke, UK, etc? To come play basketball in Tuscaloosa? Again, it's not that OM has signed good in-state talent, or even an occasional blue-chip player from another state...it's them being in almost every blue-chip player's top 5 all of the sudden and signing 5-star kids from other states with no connection or reason to go to a program like OM. I have a feeling the NCAA is going to drop the hammer here, and probably rightfully so. Teams like OM are really stuck between a rock and a hard place...either accept their place in the football world and be happy with 7-5 years...or cheat like hell to try and compete with the blue bloods. I sympathize with them, but you can't allow mediocre teams to cheat just because they feel like they deserve to be better than 7-5 type programs.

I think teams like Oregon and Okie Light have given a blue print to making a bad program relevant (although not national championship caliber). Pour tons of money into facilities and uniforms and slowly build a brand for yourself. Neither program started to suddenly get top 5 talent, in fact neither of them do even to this day. But they made themselves attractive enough to get top 15 classes and be good little programs that can occasionally rise up and compete on the national scene. That's the path programs like OM should aim for, instead of SWC-era cheating.

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Personally I am more worried about a post season ban specifically rather than simply a bowl ban. Laugh if you want, but we can actually compete for the west these days, especially with Kelly at the helm this year. It would be just our luck to win the west and not be able to represent. Would make me absolutely sick.

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I think you're right, and personally I'd be shocked if the NCAA didn't hand out a 1-2 year post-season ban when all is said and done. Truth is, that's the penalty that hurts the most and will likely be used most in cases like this.

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I have seen several Ole Miss fans post they worry more about a bowl ban. Why? The bowls are meaningless these days

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Tell that to the players that get all that extra treatment and free swag from bowl games or the coaches who like extra practice days which can include early enrollees.