JD Quinn and Rhett Bomar did not win a single game as Sooners
Today, the NCAA announced penalties for the Oklahoma Sooners football program stemming from a scandal where current Griz JD Quinn and Sam Houston State QB Rhett Bomar were paid for work they did not perform during their time as Sooners.
The Oklahoma football program must forfeit all wins from the 2005 season and will lose scholarships as a result of players being paid for work they had not performed.The penalties, announced Wednesday by the NCAA, stem from a case involving two players, including Sooners starting quarterback Rhett Bomar, who were kicked off the team for being paid for work they had not performed at a Norman car dealership.
So this is what the NCAA does during the summer. It seems so random that it comes out a year later in the middle of July. Are a couple guys sitting around saying "Hey, you think we should deal with that Oklahoma stuff today?" "Sure, how bout this: the season doesn't count and we'll figure out how many scholarships they lose later" "Sounds good."
UPDATE: Here's some details on the ruling.
I can't stand it when people hide behind the "victim" label. Today, however, I have to cry fowl -- or, specifically, DUCK! -- when it comes to University of Oklahoma Sooners football.
In my book, the NCAA Infractions Committee is a bunch of quacks, pretending to be objective arbiters of Division I football rules. I reached that conclusion after reviewing back-to-back "bad calls" made by the NCAA against the Oklahoma program.
The first "bad call" -- an officiating controversy surrounding the Sept. 16, 2006, battle between the team with the ugliest uniforms in college football (a.k.a., "the Oregon Ducks") and the Oklahoma -- went uncorrected by the NCAA despite conclusive video evidence showing the replay official at the game either blew the call on purpose or simply blew the call due to ineptness. Judge for yourself by taking a look at the video -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSIykYoM260 -- and then read on.
Only the NCAA, to whom a protest was lodged by the Sooners, would stand by such a poor example of officiating.
Now, we move on to the second "bad call" that was yesterday's announcement by the NCAA that the Sooners will, among other things, have to erase all eight victories from their 2005 season as a result of improprieties related to three now-former players, including one-time "quarterback of the future" Rhett Bomar who set several freshman records during his single-season stint as an OU starter.
Below is a compilation of what I know about the situation as gleaned from conversations with friends still living in the Sooner State, from news accounts and from a posting on the Oklahoma Sooners Official Athletic Site:
*Three now-former players were overpaid thousands of dollars for work they performed -- or, in some cases, didn't perform -- as employees of a Norman-area car dealership, Big Red Sports and Imports (a.k.a., a big-time booster);
*University compliance officers found out about the allegations of impropriety and launched an investigation;
*When the investigation turned up proof of wrongdoing, the three players were kicked off the team, never to return;
*Despite the fact that the OU policed itself, NCAA officials weren't satisfied and opted to force the school, among other things, to erase eight wins from their 2005 season -- which ended with a thumping of the then-and-always-over-rated Oregon Ducks in the Holiday Bowl -- as a result of the violations.
After all is said and done, it should come as no surprise to any loyal Sooners fan that the NCAA levied the sanctions they did against Oklahoma football this week. After all, if it walks like a Duck and talks like a Duck, by golly, it's a Duck. An Oregon Duck!