It is somewhat ironic that on the day the NCAA’s Academic Progress Report was released, FSU announced its former starting left tackle will be transferring to a JUCO after being declared academically ineligible.
Daron Rose started 11 games for the 'Noles last year, but was suspended in the academic scandal that hit the FSU athletics program last December. It’s a case of “when it rains, it pours” for a program that lost projected starting linebacker Marcus Bell when he was released from his scholarship on Monday and still is without WR/RB Preston Parker, who by school rules cannot participate in athletics due to an outstanding felony charge.
It would be easy to take some cheap shots at the school over these matters, but it’s almost a case of old news since Rose and Ball both were suspended in the academic scandal. Plus, college football players being charged with felonies is nothing new. The real problem is the way the school dealt with the fact that some key players will be suspended for the first three games next year due to that academic scandal.
FSU chose to have its schedule begin with not just one, but two I-AA teams in Western Carolina and Chattanooga. And it’s not just that they’re I-AA teams - they’re bad I-AA teams. They went a combined 3-19 last year. FSU’s scout team could probably win those games.
It effectively turns the sanction into a one-game suspension, with the game against Wake Forest being the only team with a pulse that the penalized players will miss. It’s one thing to have a mid-season suspension conveniently line up with a game versus a bad team; everyone does that and if it’s not a coincidence, you can at least make up a plausible lie. There’s no way to frame structuring a schedule around a suspension without it being a completely overt weasel tactic.
The sad thing for a once-proud program is that it will need those wins. The Seminoles will probably lose to Wake Forest due to missing those suspended players, and the Deacons have had FSU’s number as of late anyway. Florida never wins easily in Tallahassee, but the Gators are a lot better and a lot deeper than FSU is and will almost certainly win.
Of the remaining schedule, Colorado, Miami, Virginia Tech, Clemson, and Boston College will be as good or better than FSU at full strength will be, so the Seminoles will need to go 4-1 in those games to have a chance at the ACC championship game. A 3-2 mark would mean missing a January bowl yet again.
In the end, though, wins are a Pyrrhic victory if the academic side of things doesn’t get back in order. That’s not an impossible task considering plenty of schools keep their players in good academic standing without any shenanigans. Perhaps with new AD Randy Spetman and the eventual takeover of Jimbo Fisher, FSU can once again be a winner, only this time without any dark clouds of controversy.
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5 months ago
The loss of Ball was disappointing. But, the loss of Rose however was much more devastating.
The official story on Ball though is that he requested a release from his scholarship and it was granted.
I can only hope that unlike the previous staff -- this one is more focused on character along with skills and talent. Thanks for the article.
from 5 months ago
I couldn't find any information on Ball other than that he was released from his scholarship. If you hear any specifics, I'd be interested to hear.
I really don't like FSU, having been born and raised a Gator and being a UF grad, but the rivalry is a lot more fun when both teams are at the top.
5 months ago
Well, without subscribing to a paid service (like Gator Nation) -- you can still go to the Tallahassee Demoncrat's FSU site: nolesports.com
I've only heard hearsay about Ball's situation. Some people have indicated he was having problems (outside of the academic suspension) -- and hence he was asked to ask for a release (not sure how legit that rumor is). Others speculate that he saw that his playing time would be limited at FSU with the new freshman class of excellent LB's and decided to move on. As I said, the only thing official is that he apparently requested to be released from his scholarship (and it was granted).
I agree, the rivalry is pretty pointless right now with FSU (and Miami) in rebuilding mode. Hopefully, we'll see FSU rise back up there with other elite teams and renew that rivalry. I grew up in Tally (my dad was a prof at FSU) -- but I've attended classes at both UF and FSU. Still have to give the nod to the Noles. ;)
5 months ago
I know the truth behind Ball's dismissal from the team, however, I am not at liberty to discuss it publicly.
Lets just put it this way, he wasn't exactly the one asking to leave, he was told to. It wasn't anything academic or having to do with the scandal.
5 months ago
...And we'll probably lose to Wake Forest? hmm...
4 months ago
This is a very dramatic article.
Come on, people. AD's and coaches have padded schedules for decades. They not only schedule cupcakes around known suspensions, they move games around big things going on in the community; they load the front end of the schedule with all-girls' schools because they have freshman starting all over the field (see: Ohio State, every year); or they play a high-school size college team the week before their biggest rival (see: Miami, USC, Nebraska). Teams have been doing it for years, and if you think for one minute ANY Div 1-A team would have done anything differently than FSU did, you're living in denial and suppressing rage.
FSU will be OK. Contrary to this article, they stack up well against teams like BC (who lost most of it's punch), Miami (who has NO offense other than Graig Cooper), and even Florida (who once again has a shaky, untested D coming into this season).
Listen, college athletes across the country commit infractions...it's what the university, the team, and the coaches do about it that matters. FSU has shown time and time again that when a kid messes up, he gets punished. Whether you agree with the punishment or not, it's still there. Preston Parker's felony charges were dropped, so what is the coach supposed to do, kick him off the team? Name one coach who would kick him off their team, given the circumstances, and this kid's talent.
By the way: you'll need to go outside the realm of ESPN to really research the issue, but it's not hard to realize that football players get in trouble with the law all over the country. ESPN, for some reason, loves to spotlight the FL schools, though. And furthermore, you can't even put a number on the amount of kids who have committed serious crimes, but the team, the coach and/or the schools have covered them up. That doesn't happen at FSU, or any FL school as far as I am concerned. The FL schools get persecuted for punishing their players, and that's absurd.
from 4 months ago
I am well aware of how many players get in trouble nationally. However, it's usually not a large academic cheating scandal that spans multiple sports. ESPN has nothing to do with the creation of this piece other than the two links to the I-AA schools. Also, if you check the date of publication, it was written before Parker's charges were dropped.
I am well aware of schools padding schedules. However, it's usually not because a school is intentionally trying to soften the impact of suspensions as FSU has admitted its doing(1). There's only 4 schools nationally that have two I-AA teams on the schedule, so what FSU has done is not common.
The point of this was not to condemn players, but the way that schools can schedule around suspensions the way that FSU is doing. It's worse than what happens during the season where players conveniently get suspended against bad teams because at least there's an excuse of timing that can be used. FSU has no excuse with this one; it's intentionally trying to get around the penalties assessed to its players.
It'd be good if the NCAA made a rule that players must serve suspensions against teams from their own divisions. It would solve this problem and soften the mid-season problem, though players could still be conveniently suspended against the FIUs of the world.
1. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/college/seminoles/orl-fbcfsu09a08feb09,0,2817179.story
4 months ago
Showing that I am a good sport, and respect good writing (despite my bias), I will take this a step further. What if suspensions to players of major college football teams (i.e., div 1-A) could only be served against other div 1-A opponents and not 1-AA? I have believed for a long time that games div 1-A teams played against div 1-AA schools shouldn't count, period. The stats shouldn't count, the win shouldn't count, nothing. They are high-priced exhibition games.
If the BCS would penalize teams who played these games, teams would stop scheduling them. I do agree with you 100% about the way FSU is going about this, but you gotta believe their two cupcake opponents were already scheduled. The dates probably weren't finalized, but FSU didn't decide to play these two small schools after the suspensions--as you well know, schedules (and more importantly, contracts to play out of conference teams) are made years in advance. AD's set dates for those games usually 5-6 months prior to the start of the season. So it's fair to say that FSU might have moved these games to the beginning of the season, but it is completely unfair (and false) to say that FSU put Chatanooga and W. Carolina on their schedule solely because of the suspensions. Regardless of circumstances, schools put two or more cupcakes on their schedules at the beginning of the season all the time, every year. That's all I'm saying.
from 4 months ago
I mentioned that idea in the comment directly above this one. It's something I'd be in favor of. Also in that comment is a link to an Orlando Sentinel article where it is clear that FSU put those teams there because of the suspensions. Some samples:
Bowden acknowledged that [playing a marquee game on Labor Day] wasn't an option this season because of FSU's investigation into academic fraud, which will leave his team without several starters for the first three games of 2008.
"We had to give up a Monday night game, which I hated to give up because of the [lost] exposure," Bowden said this week. "But there's no way we would be ready to play a ranked team at that time."
...
"There was no easy third team to pick out," Bowden said. "Because it had to be a conference opponent."
Yeah, it was because of the suspensions. Straight from Bobby's mouth. And it's one thing to begin the year with two bad I-A schools, like Eastern Michigan or the like, and something else entirely to begin with two bad I-AA schools.
There is no excuse for a BCS conference school playing two I-AA schools that went a combined 3-19 the previous year no matter when or what the circumstances are.
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