| The Freeh Report all but decimated what was left of a pristine legacy for Joe Paterno. |
Thursday brought about sobering realizations and confirmation that Joe Paterno had a larger role in the Jerry Sandusky response by Penn State officials than he initially led on. The Freeh Report concluded that Paterno did know about a 1998 investigation in to Sandusky, a case Paterno said he was unaware of previously. There will certainly be even more information to come once the trials of Tim Curley and Gary Schultz gets underway, but for now the image of Paterno has been damaged even more.
Will the Joe Paterno statue be torn down? Former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden says it should but the Board of Trustees is urging for patience in addressing the coach’s legacy according to Fight On State, although at least one trustee says Paterno’s 61 years of service to the school is now marred.
The more important issues though remain with how the NCAA may react now, given new information from the Freeh Report that further illustrates the complete breakdown and lack of responsibility within the administration. Death penalty talk picked up more steam, but do not expect it to get that far. Perhaps still even bigger of a concern should be how the Department of Education could flex some muscle in response as well.
Sticking to college football, we continued with Pac-12 Preview Week here at Crystal Ball Run. Yesterday we examined why Jeff Tedford’s seat at Cal should not be so hot and ranked the fan bases in the Pac-12 USC is a big favorite this season, except for week one? Be sure to continue following us on Twitter and Facebook to get the latest updates from us as they become available.
More links after the jump…
In case you missed it the other day, Allen Kenny had a chat with Bruce Feldman from CBSSports.com. They discussed the Freeh Report and Mike Leach. Anytime Feldman talks, we are sure to listen. Subscribe to the Crystal Ball Run podcast in iTunes.
The watch lists for the Bronko Nagurski Award and the Outland Trophy were released on Thursday. Plenty of names to watch on each.
The NCAA approved a waiver request by former Alabama quarterback Phillip Sims. Sims transferred to Virginia and will now be eligible to play this season. The Washington Post states he is now in the running for the starting job, competing with junior incumbent Michael Rocco.
Nick Saban’s daughter is being sued by a sorority sister after a fight over a Facebook post.
Air Force and Oklahoma State agreed to cancel a two-game series in 2015 and 2016. Mark this down as a victim of nine-game conference scheduling in the Big 12. Air Force is also cancelling their series with Cincinnati, who approached the falcons about the possibility.
Tweet of the Day
The Freeh Report, as mentioned earlier, caused plenty of reaction throughout the college football landscape and beyond. Much was made about the football culture that was cultivated in State College. In fairness, a football culture exists at many universities around the country, but Greg Doyell from CBSSports.com demanded an apology from Penn State. “Evil Bill O’Brien” issued an apology directly to Doyel…
Gregg Doyel wants an apology from PSU. Here’s one: I’m sorry people care about sports so much that you get to write about them for a living.
— Evil Bill O’Brien (@evilbillobrien) July 13, 2012
Video of the Day
Texas A&M showed off their new uniforms yesterday with a video. To the casual observer the uniforms looks very similar but the new uniforms designed by adidas are inspired by the 1970s look of the Aggies. Overall they look fine, although “The 12th Man” on the arm sleeves looks kind of… dumb. Oh, there is also a white helmet again.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vJfzm67LFsM
