I think Stewart Mandel sums up the current state of college football pretty well with this:
… The one thing that’s changed from then to now is the staggering amounts of revenue now at play, which some suggest is leading to more corruption — but that’s because the sport has never been more popular. We can’t have it both ways. We want to be entertained, we want to be able to watch every possible game on television, we want our teams to win national titles, hire the best coach, have the best facilities, the coolest stadium scoreboards — but then we act shocked and disgusted at the fact that it requires large amounts of money to achieve these things, and that some figures act inappropriately in the face of it all. Unfortunately, to be a college football fan means accepting that the sport has its share of warts. But then, find me one that doesn’t.
Get The Picture 
Enlightenment has reached Montana.
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Only someone with a completely idealistic view of the world is still shocked that college football is awash in 1) money and 2) corruption. Pony Excess showed that it’s been rife in some programs for three decades or more. Florida was on probation for their troubles in the 80’s, Auburn is always being investigated for something, Alabama has been on probation, Georgia was investigated in the 80’s. Oklahoma under Switzer had free reign like it was the Wild West.
This is not new. It reminds me of steroids and baseball. Everybody knew, including the journalists covering the sport, but nobody wanted to upset the apple cart. Then, when it hits the fan, the journalists come back acting all indignant like they are innocent bystanders. They were complicit in the whole sham, but they said nothing because the booming popularity of the sport put money in their wallets and food on their tables.
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Looks like Stewart’s about to start making apologies for the Auburns of the world. I don’t think anyone’s shocked that some people act inappropriately when people start throwing cash around, Stewart, I think people are shocked that the governing body in charge of stomping that stuff out all of a sudden doesn’t seem to give much of a damn about it.
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Ole Stew needs to look in the mirror too. His employer, and his have it both ways writing, aren’t helping matters any.
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Stewart is shocked, SHOCKED, that money is corrupting college football. If only we could return to a gentler, more pristine era, like the early 80s, when giants of the game like Switzer, Sherill and Pat Dye were bulwarks of character against the rising tides of corruption.
there has never been a shortage of people willing to spend money to break rules to assure wins in college football. The only thing different today is how much more money is available, and how much faster we all hear about it due to the internet.
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Heck, go back to the 50s when the Bear was passing around the spittoon at Texas A&M and telling boosters they better fill it with cash if they wanted to get better players to come to College Station.
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