Auburn cheated during national title season according to ESPN report

[Moranis]

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9131624/auburn-tigers-coaches-bribed-players-altered-grades-broke-recruiting-rules-gene-chizik-according-report

[CelticConcourse]

Take the title away! Give it to Oregon!!

GO DUCKS!

[jambr380]

There are probably countless instances of this happening...we only find about a few of these instances.

I know I may be in the minority, but I've always felt that unless the 'cheating' was because of PEDs or something on the field, titles really shouldn't be removed. I always thought the USC thing with Reggie Bush was pretty extreme.

Nonetheless, if this is all true, then there should and will be major punishments.

[PhoSita]

This stuff won't stop happening until there's a major overhaul of the way college football (and college sports in general) are organized and funded.  But that probably won't ever happen since it's not in the schools' financial interest.

[ctrey]

Typical SEC football nonsense. The conference is made up of schools you would never attend unless you played a sport. You expect academic integrity and excellence from schools located in states where being a literate, well educated person is honestly frowned upon? Think again folks.

[Moranis]

Honestly the paying of players doesn't bother me (and I think that goes on at all the major programs), but I do have a problem with the fudging of grades to get guys eligible that wouldn't have been.  Academic fraud is just a whole new level than paying players.

[wdleehi]

Just called me not shocked. 

[Rondo2287]

When you said cheated I thought you meant during the games.  These types of things are barely considered against the rules in the $EC

[Chelm]

Honestly the paying of players doesn't bother me (and I think that goes on at all the major programs), but I do have a problem with the fudging of grades to get guys eligible that wouldn't have been.  Academic fraud is just a whole new level than paying players.

To me, they're at the same level.  The best college athletes (at least in certain sports) are just there for their sport and won't even get a degree anyhow... why does it matter what grades they get?  Especially in football when there's not really even a reasonable alternate path to the NFL.

I also think the NCAA is a little ridiculous in their rules.  I was a non-scholarship D2 (track & field) athlete and was still subject to the same limitations.

[fairweatherfan]

There are probably countless instances of this happening...we only find about a few of these instances.

A lot of the faculty at my grad school had worked at Ohio State in the past.  Apparently they're notorious for grades being abruptly and drastically changed without any notice or rationale.  Like, you'd give a football player the F they earned and look back a week later and he'd have a B.  Part of the reason why a lot of them left.

[Moranis]

Honestly the paying of players doesn't bother me (and I think that goes on at all the major programs), but I do have a problem with the fudging of grades to get guys eligible that wouldn't have been.  Academic fraud is just a whole new level than paying players.

To me, they're at the same level.  The best college athletes (at least in certain sports) are just there for their sport and won't even get a degree anyhow... why does it matter what grades they get?  Especially in football when there's not really even a reasonable alternate path to the NFL.

I also think the NCAA is a little ridiculous in their rules.  I was a non-scholarship D2 (track & field) athlete and was still subject to the same limitations.

I just don't see them the same at all.  One you pay someone for their performance on the field, the other you commit academic fraud to make someone eligible.  One is illegal, the other is not, though both violate NCAA rules.  I just think there is a pretty large difference there.  Just like I would think there is a very large difference between giving a 13 year old gifts for his play in the little league world series, and changing the birth certificate of a 15 year old to make him 13 so he can play in the little league world series.

[ssspence]

Just called me not shocked.

Absolutely -- par for the course at this point. I stopped watching college with any significant dedication some years ago because the student-athlete is largely a farce at the highest levels of the top  sports. Using the veil of eduction as a disguise for integrity while you take advantage of young people at their own financial expense is pretty gross. It's the worst kept secret in sports, and greed stands in the way of recovery.

As for the play, if the NCAA is just a crude farm system, why should one care? I don't live in central Alabama  -- we have pro teams here. I don't watch the D-League or the CFL, either... until the NCAA is blown up, and the playing field is leveled for students, it's just a secondary pro league.

[Donoghus]

Nothing surprises me when it comes to $EC football.    I wouldn't be shocked if nearly every team in that conference(except, perhaps, Vandy) was dirty to an extent.  I can't imagine Auburn is the only school in that conference that employs this practice.

College football, as a whole, is a pretty dirty sport.  I think the $EC exemplifies that more than anything.  It seems like they don't even try to hide the fact those kids are athletes first & students second.

[pearljammer10]

Just called me not shocked.

Ditto.

I love when reporters "break" these stories... Im always kinda just like well duh.

[Moranis]

and the hits keep coming

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9135194/twelve-auburn-tigers-football-players-failed-synthetic-pot-tests

seems pretty unlikely they keep the national title if even a fraction of all this is true.