Team-by-team breakdown
Just when we were all settling in for the college basketball bribery trial, a college football scandal broke out. The word scandal gets thrown around a lot, but it’s better than making up a word with “gate” after it.
This Marty Blazer character, who is an immediate First Team All-Name guy by the way, testified and said he provided money from 2010-14 to college football players at Alabama, Notre Dame, Michigan, Penn State, Pittsburgh, North Carolina and Northwestern.
Can you believe high-level college football athletes were getting paid instead of making the schools tons of money for free? Shocking.
Let’s break it down team-by-team with what we’re dealin’ with here.
Pittsburgh
Remember, this is from 2010-2014. Paul Chryst coached here from 2012-14. I may be a bit bias as a Wisconsin fan, but it probably happened before him. Wouldn’t happen under his watch. Wisconsin’s national title with Graham Mertz will NOT be destroyed by sanctions. Move on, nothing to see here.
Notre Dame
Death penalty. No doubt about it. Cannot have Catholics behaving this way. Does not set a good example. Think of the children.
Penn State
No big deal. Penn State has had much worse scandals. This is nothing compared to what these fellas did in the past.
Alabama
Nick Saban could organize a meeting at the NCAA offices with a high school recruit, hand him millions of dollars in cash and give his mother keys to a brand new corvette, and the NCAA would do nothing about it. Saban owns college sports. He could put the NCAA on probation if he had the mind to.
Michigan
Every Michigan fan would slip recruits a few hundred dollars if it meant beating Ohio State. No doubt about it. Apparently the need to be giving thousands because it’s not working.
North Carolina
North Carolina quietly has the most corrupt athletic department in the country. Whenever you see a scandal come up, the Tar Heels are generally in the mix, whether it’s paying players or making up fake classes to keep everyone eligible. North Carolina does not get punished severely for everything it does, so I don’t see why this would be any different. And if you’re going to cheat, at least put together a decent football program.
Northwestern
Northwestern! How bout these guys? The nerds of the Midwest are becoming a real college football team. They’re getting brand new facilities, a big-name quarterback coming in and now Northwestern is entering the scandal game. After making the Big Ten title last year, it’s time to consider Northwestern in the mix with the big boys.
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