Put me in the camp that this is good news for the University of Tennessee football. I was never impressed with Gruden as a pro coach and I don’t think he has the demeanor to coach at the college level. That “Chucky” persona played well in Oakland and Tampa Bay, but there’s no place for that at the college level.

Could be. Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports reports:

Documents that the NCAA is aggressively trying to keep under seal appear to show improper involvement by NCAA staff and committee members in the landmark USC decision more than two years ago.

A judge’s decision made public last week — and obtained in full by CBSSports.com — shows that at least three persons may have improperly tried to influence the NCAA’s powerful infractions committee to find former USC assistant Todd McNair complicit in the Reggie Bush case. Lawyers for McNair are trying to show the association violated its own rules and procedures in investigating their client.

Two non-voting members of the NCAA infractions committee and NCAA staffer allegedly tried to influence voting members inside the 10-person committee. The judge’s decision contains excerpts of emails that he has determined show “ill will or hatred” toward McNair.

McNair is suing the NCAA for an undisclosed amount for defamation of character citing irreparable damage to his career. The information was disclosed after a motion by NCAA lawyers to dismiss the case was denied.

Information in Judge Frederick Shaller’s decision reveal in detail the apparent lengths the NCAA went to cast McNair — as one NCAA staffer put it — as “a lying morally bankrupt criminal, in my view, and a hypocrite of the highest order.”

The duties of that staffer, believed to be infractions committee liaison Shep Cooper, are basically administrative — to assist the committee on infractions on their needs and gathering information. Cooper is a former NCAA enforcement rep.

Shaller said that evidence provided by McNair’s attorneys show the NCAA had a “wreckless disregard for the truth.” Emails between Cooper and committee members Rodney Uphoff, a Missouri law professor, and Roscoe Howard, a former U.S. attorney, were circulated “covertly” in violation of NCAA rules according to the document.

The rest here.

I’ve been hard on Penn State as an institution and an athletic department, but congratulations to Coach Bill O’Brien and those athletes who stuck together and put together a successful 8-4 season. The players had the option of transferring without the standard penalty. Let’s take a look at how those that did leave fared at their new schools:

Silas Redd – USC: 7-5
Tim Buckley – NC State: 7-5
Kevin Halea – Florida State: 10-2 with ACC championship yet to play
Khairi Fortt – Cal: 3-9
Rob Bolden – LSU: 10-2
Jamil Pollard – Rutgers: 9-2 with game vs. Louisville left.
Anthony Fera - Texas: 8-3 with game vs. Kansas State left.
Rob Nowicki - Illinois: 2-10
Justin Brown - Oklahoma: 9-2 with game vs. TCU left.

Then there’s the odd case of Dakota Royer, who quit the football team, but stayed at Penn State to get his degree.

That’s four of the nine that transferred who played for teams with worse records than the program they left. If that group of players stayed, it would be hard to imagine that the Nittany Lions wouldn’t have gone 10-2, and possibly even 11-1.

It’s one thing to investigate player-booster misconduct, but the NCAA has gone a step further and issued an ultimatum to former Miami Hurricanes: If they don’t talk to NCAA lawyers by Friday, the NCAA will assume the allegations against them are true. Talk about thuggish behavior. Via the Miami Herald:

The NCAA has delivered a new and disturbing ultimatum to numerous former University of Miami football players: Either talk to us or we’ll believe Nevin Shapiro’s claims against you.

The NCAA last week mailed a letter to former players that allegedly committed NCAA violations by accepting gifts from Shapiro, including dinners, prostitutes, trips to nightclubs, cash and other perks. Shapiro told the NCAA that 114 players committed violations; Yahoo previously identified 72 of them.

Only players who were playing college football at the time the investigation was launched are required to speak to the NCAA. Thirteen current or former UM football players did so in 2011. So the players who were sent the letter last week are no longer playing college football; some are in the NFL.

The letter, which I obtained, gives the players a Friday deadline to speak to the NCAA. What’s surprising is that the NCAA states in the letter that it will conclude the players committed violations if they do not respond.

UM officials were privately hopeful that many of the allegations made against players who left UM several years ago cannot be corroborated. Unless the NCAA is bluffing, it appears it might take Shapiro’s word on these claims unless the players refute them.

In recent days, several players and their attorneys have been trying to decide whether to speak to the NCAA.  Even Tuesday, one said he’s not sure what he will do. So it’s unclear how many players will speak to the NCAA.

Text of the letter to former players here.

I can see why the NCAA is doing this, as its needs to present as strong a case as possible when imposing its sanctions. But to take the word of Nevin Shapiro — a convicted felon and liar — over players who choose not to talk is, I think, a step too far.

The NCAA should make its case with the players it does have the right to interview, and it should forget about the others.

President Obama’s alma mater, Columbia, defeated Villanova last night, 75–57.

This was Columbia’s first win over a Big East opponent since 1985 — two years after the president graduated.

If the president won’t release his transcripts form Columbia, maybe he’ll at least whistle “Roar, Lion, Roar” at some point during the day to honor this accomplishment.

***Bonus points for President Obama if he can tell us where this picture was taken***

First up, “The Game.” I’m a superstitious fellow and am not happy that my Buckeyes have chosen this week to go with clown-college uniforms:

I guess they could be worse, but I’d feel safer if the Bucks were wearing the regular unis. I’ll go conservative and predict Ohio State over Michigan, in Urban Meyer’s debut, 49-14. My earlier, pre-clown-uniform prediction, was 72-0.

Next up, USC vs. Notre Dame. It looks like my preseason prediction that Coach Brian Kelly of Notre Dame would lose his job might, uh . . . not come true. He must be congratulated on his stellar season (I stand by my earlier statement that he should have been fired after the student videographer died, however). Notre Dame is dodging a bullet with the news that USC’s starting QB Matt Barkley is injured and won’t play on Saturday, but I don’t think that will be enough. The Irish haven’t choked all season and they’re due. I’m going with USC over ND, 24-21.

In other games: Alabama will cruise to a win over rival Auburn, Florida-Florida State, billed as BCS playoff game, will see Florida win in a squeaker, and Oregon will crush Oregon State, once again leaving Mark Hemingway to wonder what could’ve been.

Looks like the ACC’s University of Maryland, and most likely the Big East’s Rutgers, will join the Big Ten Conference . . . which will now have fourteen member institutions:

Patricia Florestano, a member of the Board of Regents, confirmed to USA TODAY Sports the regents had voted to apply for admission for the University of Maryland into the Big Ten.

“There was certainly discussion about the tradition of the ACC. And the question is what’s the future. And we’ve got to look to the future,” Florestano said in Baltimore before a previously scheduled public meeting on education policy.

The Big Ten issued a news release that said Maryland would hold a news conference at 3 p.m. Eastern in College Park, Md., with university president Wallace Loh, chanceller Brit Kirwan, athletics director Kevin Anderson and Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany. The Big Ten has scheduled a national teleconference for 4 p.m. with Delany, Loh, Kirwan, Anderson and University of Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman.

. . .

Rutgers is expected to follow Maryland to the Big Ten. It has a previously scheduled Board of Governors meeting Monday, but its president, Robert Barchi, and athletic director, Tim Pernetti, have the authority to accept an invitation from the Big Ten without the board’s approval. An announcement on its move could come as early as Tuesday.

For Rutgers to join the Big Ten makes sense to me. It’s an upgrade all the way around for their athletic department. Maryland is a head-scratcher. The Terps aren’t competitive in football in the ACC. It will be less so in the Big Ten. Their premier sport, men’s basketball, leaves one of the best two conferences for college hoops, and the other one isn’t the Big Ten.

Hilarious:

How much longer do we continue with the “student-athlete” charade for Division I football?

The North Carolina academics scandal is now affecting elementary schoolers.

Per a report in the News & Observer, North Carolina receiver Erik Highsmith plagiarized content from four 11-year-olds in order to fill a class requirement. Highsmith was required to add posts to blog for 30 percent of his grade and wrote about poultry farming and people and pets — the poultry piece was originally written and posted by kids in grade school:

The first entry was virtually identical to a passage on an education website written by four 11-year-olds for their peers. The second mirrored much of an essay someone posted on Urch.com, a website that helps people prepare for the SAT, GRE and other college entry exams.

It’s finally here — college football’s long-awaited opening weekend, that glorious time of year when grown men entrust their happiness and well-being to teenagers they don’t know and will likely never meet.

We’ll be forced to plod through two more seasons under the current BCS format before a four-team playoff changes the landscape in 2014, but the game’s quaint and increasingly reviled postseason doesn’t dampen the passion attached to college football’s regular season, which remains the most meaningful and emotion-charged in all of sports.

Here’s a short list of the season’s key games, many of which will help decide the last team standing on Jan. 7, 2013, the date of the BCS National Championship Game in Miami.

Sept. 1 — Michigan vs. Alabama (at Arlington, Texas) 

Arguably the best intersectional matchup of the year, this game will get the season off to a rollicking start. Both teams harbor national title hopes, but this one is especially big for the Wolverines. A win against the defending national champs would boost the Big Ten’s stock against the SEC and affirm that Michigan is back. A win would be an incalculable boost to UM quarterback Denard Robinson’s Heisman stock as well.

Sept. 15 — Alabama at Arkansas

The Hogs endured an offseason of chaos that included the removal of highly successful coach Bobby Petrino, who was replaced by John L. Smith. Still, Arkansas has a chance to erase all that uncertainty and state for the nation they are a legitimate threat to win the SEC West. For the second time in three weeks, the Tide will receive the best shot from a hungry contender eager to prove itself on a national stage.

Oct. 13 — Oklahoma vs. Texas (at Arlington, Texas)

This is a critical season for both teams. Texas wants to prove that it isn’t suffering from a prolonged decline that could spell the end of the Mack Brown era in Austin. And Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops needs to shed his program’s growing reputation for losing the biggest games. The latest renewal of the Red River Rivalry marks the end of a brutal three-game stretch for Texas, which could give the edge to the Sooners.

Nov. 3 — Alabama at LSU

To recall a game as big as this, we need only to look back to the 2011 season, when these two college football titans squared off twice in matchups that ultimately decided the national title. This time around, the results could be just as important. The Tide will lean more than ever on steady quarterback A. J. McCarron, while the Tigers will look to their defense, still stocked with playmakers even after the offseason dismissal of Tyrann Mathieu.

Nov. 3 — Oregon at USC 

The other half of the titanic Nov. 3 doubleheader features the two teams that will be battling for West Coast supremacy, not to mention a spot in the BCS Championship game. The offensive star power in this one, including Heisman front-runner Matt Barkley, of USC, is off the charts, but the key might be the USC defense. The last time Ducks running back De’Anthony Thomas played in his hometown, he ran for TDs of 91 and 64 yards in the Ducks’ Rose Bowl win over Wisconsin. USC won’t be so generous.

Nov. 8 — Florida State at Virginia Tech 

These two ACC kingpins will tell a national audience, “Don’t forget about us.” This could be the game of the year in the conference, as well as a preview of the ACC Championship Game. Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Va., will be wild on a prime time Thursday night for a game that should feature two of the nation’s top defenses.

Nov. 17 — Oklahoma at West Virginia

This hotly anticipated clash could shape the Big 12, national-title, and Heisman Trophy races in one mighty showdown. The respective quarterbacks — Oklahoma’s Landry Jones and West Virginia’s Geno Smith — are both legitimate Heisman contenders, and they’re surrounded by playmakers who will help them state their case.

Nov. 24 — Michigan at Ohio State 

Seems like old times — Michigan and Ohio State are once again the Big Two of the Big Ten. The Wolverines likely will have plenty at stake against a probation-laden Ohio State team that will treat this showdown as its bowl game and try to ruin the Wolverines’ title hopes in the Horseshoe.

Nov. 24 — Notre Dame at USC 

The nation’s oldest and most prestigious intersectional rivalry will have plenty of significance attached to it. As usual, the atmosphere will resemble that of a big-time bowl game. The Trojans’ national-title hopes will be tested, and Irish linebacker Manti Te’o would love to put a dent in Matt Barkley’s Heisman Express.

— Rob Doster is senior editor for Athlon Sports.

The Fighting Irish don’t want to play in front of the Irish-Irish:

While hundreds of thousands of fans wait in eager anticipation of the September 1st game between Notre Dame and Navy in Dublin, many of the Notre Dame coaches can’t wait until it’s over.

According to an article in the Sun Times, the once-in-a-lifetime game is “a once-in-a-lifetime headache” for those running the day-to-day operations of the program.

“I love everything about Ireland,” said Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly. “I’m not a big fan of playing football games in Ireland.”

Jack Swarbrick, Notre Dame’s athletic director, said, “It is incredibly challenging. The logistics of it are something else.

“Not every 18-year-old has a passport. So you start with basic things like that — we have to get everyone a passport.”

Blake Baxter at The College Fix:

The University of North Carolina football program is preparing for the upcoming 2012 season following two disheartening years mired in academic scandal. But as it attempts to usher in to a hopeful new era, there are still signs that whole truth about those scandals is yet to be uncovered.

In 2010, the NCAA began investigating the university following accusations of improper gifts from agents to athletes. However, the investigation evolved into something much more serious when it became clear that UNC had committed the cardinal sin of the NCAA: academic fraud.

The academic fraud took place solely in the African and Afro-American studies department from summer 2007 to summer 2011. The department was responsible for 54 no-show and fraudulent classes. 67% of the classes were made up of student athletes—most were football players. Classes were either taught “aberrantly” or “irregularly,” the university admitted, following its own investigation in to the matter. The ugly details include unauthorized grade changes, forged faculty signatures on grade rolls, and limited or no class time.

I assume that Ohio State fan Greg Pollowtiz would approve of this. John J. Miller, not so much.

From the must-follow Twitter feed of Skip Oliva comes news of a tiny but incredibly outrageous violation of free expression among the kingergarten set.

Yes, it’s come to this:

An Oklahoma City kindergartner was forced to turn his University of Michigan shirt inside out last week because it violated a city ban on any apparel not supportive of the state’s college teams. . . .

Cooper Barton, 5, comes from a family of Michigan fans. He went to school wearing a maize and blue shirt with “The Big House,” the nickname for Michigan’s 114,000-seat stadium, written on the front. The school principal made Cooper turn the shirt inside out due to the state policy.

I predict this will not end well for Mr. Spanier:

Attorneys for Penn State’s ousted president are planning a news conference to rebut what they view as inaccuracies in a report that concluded he concealed child sex-abuse allegations against a former assistant football coach more than a decade ago.

One of [former Penn State president] Graham Spanier’s lawyers, Peter Vaira, told The Associated Press on Tuesday there are ”many, many errors” in the report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, and the legal team will meet with reporters in Philadelphia early next week to point them out.

Freeh was hired by Penn State’s board of trustees to investigate the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

His July 12 report asserted that Spanier, football coach Joe Paterno and two other university officials buried a 2001 allegation against Sandusky to protect Penn State from bad publicity.

The NCAA used the report as the basis for leveling severe penalties against Penn State, including a $60 million fine, a multi-year bowl ban and a reduction in athletic scholarships.

Spanier was ousted as school president soon after Sandusky’s arrest. He has not been charged with a crime and remains a tenured faculty member at Penn State. He is on sabbatical until December.

He’s still employed by the university? I can only imagine this is because the board of trustees is scared of a wrongful-termination suit.

Whoa:

BATON ROUGE, La.— LSU has dismissed Heisman Trophy finalist Tyrann Mathieu from its football program for violating school and team rules.

The junior defensive back nicknamed Honey Badger was a surprising Heisman candidate last season as the Tigers won the Southeastern Conference championship and reached the BCS title game.

At a news conference Friday, coach Les Miles would not specify the reason Mathieu was kicked off the team.

“We’ll miss the guy,” Miles said. “The football team’s got to go on. We’ll have to fill the void.”

The Tigers enter this season as one of the favorites to reach the national championship game again. They are No. 1 in the coaches’ preseason poll and expected to be right near the top of the AP college football poll when it is released Aug. 18.

Mathieu won the Bednarik Award as national defensive player of the year last season and was big-play machine at cornerback and on special teams. The All-American scored four touchdowns—two on punt returns and two on fumble returns—intercepted two passes and caused six fumbles and recovered four.

He was also suspended for a game last year for failing a drug test. The Tigers beat Auburn 45-10 without Mathieu.

Mathieu has two years of eligibility left and could transfer, but he would have to sit out this season if he went to another school in major college football. If he moved down a level, to FCS, he could play right away.

To their jerseys.

Players’ names are being added to Penn State’s football jerseys for the coming season, the university announced Tuesday, along with blue ribbons to show support for victims of child abuse.

The team’s generic look – blue-and-white, no names on jerseys – has long been a trademark and was associated with the buttoned-down style of former coach Joe Paterno, who was fired last year after his former assistant Jerry Sandusky was arrested on child molestation charges.

School officials said adding the names was a way to recognize the “resolve and dedication” of the players, as the team faces a four-year bowl ban and loss of scholarships under the severe penalties handed down by the NCAA last month over the school’s handling of the Sandusky scandal.

The changes will take effect with the Sept. 1 season opener at home against Ohio University.

Nothing — but nothing — shows you care about an issue like a ribbon. Problem solved!

Suggestion. If you’re a Penn State alum or fan, and feel the need to defend the football program or any of those involved in this sordid affair, you should probably take a vacation. Lest you end up sounding like this fellow:

After hearing Tom Price of Factoryville, Pa., express his feelings about the sanctions levied against Penn State by the NCAA, there seems little doubt that we need a version of Godwin’s Law that pertains to references to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Asked by a WNEP reporter how he felt watching NCAA President Mark Emmert reveal the sanctions against the Penn State football program for its role in the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal, Price delivered an answer that even made some of his fellow alumni cringe.

“I just can’t put my arms around it, it’s, to me, it was our 9/11 today. I just saw planes crashing into towers,” said Price, who told WNEP that he has gone to almost every home PSU football game, with his wife, since 1986.

William McGurn: NCAA Fumbles Penn State Case

Washington Post Editors: Apt Punishment for Penn State

John White: The Betrayal That Shook Happy Valley

Chris Dufresne: Did NCAA go too far, or not enough? 

Bleacher Report: Penn State RB Silas Redd Reportedly Considering Transfer to USC

AP: Penn State Credit Rating Could Face a Downgrade

The NCAA verdict is in: $60 million fine; no bowl games for four years; a loss of 40 scholarships (ten per year over the next four years); and the school must vacate all wins from 1998–2011.

I didn’t predict the fine or the wins, but I was spot-on with the scholarships and bowl ban.

Personally, I think it’s fair and the $60 million goes to help sexual-abuse victims. Penn State football will be damaged, but that’s the point, no? They’ll be back within eight years. Can the same be said for all of Sandusky’s victims?

Other views:

USA Today: Penn State trustee: School ‘rolled over and played dead’ to NCAA

Sporting News: Penn State sees first recruiting casualty from NCAA penalties

Dan Wetzel: Penn State’s NCAA sanctions worse than ‘death’ because the program will be crippled for years

Gregg Doyel: There’s no fixing horrid past at Penn State, but NCAA’s harsh penalty fits the crimes

Gene Wojciechowski: A new standard of misconduct warranted a new standard of punishment

So say the editors of the New York Post.