The Brendan Sorsby controversy which swallowed this week in college football has been so explosive because its reach into the recent history of the sport is so pervasive. Rick Neuheisel was punished for participating in an NCAA Tournament pool. Other athletes have been banned for betting very small sums of money, far less than what Sorsby did. USC’s Reggie Bush didn’t commit anything close to the ethical violation Sorsby did. Yet, the hammer came down hard on the Trojans. Texas Tech, in contrast, is escaping real punishment.
College football journalist Chris Low tweeted, “Remember when Reggie Bush once had to forfeit the Heisman Trophy for accepting improper benefits from agents (a rent-free home) and USC had to vacate a national title?”
The more time passes, the more absurd the severity of those USC punishments looks. So much has happened since then which has put the NCAA’s witch hunt against the Trojans in perspective.
Jerry Sandusky at Penn State. Art Briles at Baylor. Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. Now this with Brendan Sorsby. The Reggie Bush story isn’t in the same league as those figures and the scandals they were involved in.
We can all appreciate, with the passage of time, just how unfair the NCAA and Paul Dee actually were. Some things age well. Others don’t. We can all see that the NCAA’s punishments of USC and Reggie Bush have not aged well at all.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Brendan Sorsby scandal makes USC, Reggie Bush a total nothingburger
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