NCAA Football: The Phenomenon of Cultural Cheating and a Possible Solution

A few days ago, Ohio State University released what it felt is an adequate punishment for their transgressions last season involving Terrelle Pryor and several other Buckeyes. They have elected to vacate their 2010 season which includes 12 wins, as well as a Big Ten Championship and Sugar Bowl victory.

By now the story has become common knowledge in the sports world. The time line of events has unfolded in a manner that has come to make the players, coaches, and University all appear to be at fault.

Blame has ping-ponged all over Columbus, from Pryor and the players, to the administration of the University, and finally to former coach Jim Tressel himself.

This is only the latest case of NCAA football scandals. You don't need to go back further than last season to find a handful more:

North Carolina University- 13 players suspended for improper contact with an agent

University of Michigan- conducting unauthorized practices during the offseason

USC- Reggie Bush's parents receiving payment and gifts from an agent

Auburn- Cam Newton investigation

Oregon, LSU, Cal- Alleged illegal recruitment by scout Willie Lyles

In a season that featured high powered offenses, a non-BCS team almost getting into the championship game, and one of the greatest seasons by a college player ever, these were the headlines that dominated the news.

What has happened to college football? Nothing really.

Cheating in the game dates back to the first days of collegiate football.. In 1909, Michigan's James Joy Miller played in all seven games, helping the Wolverines to a 6-1 record.

However, Miller never went to, or even enrolled in any classes during the season. The national media caught on to this and exposed one of the earliest college football scandals.

Eighty years later, we have what is arguably the biggest and most notorious scandal in NCAA history. The SMU football program flat out paid players to come to their school and play for their team.

This incident which had statewide implications involving powerful businessmen and state politicians became a national story. The hot media spotlight that shined down on Dallas, as well as repeat violations, led the NCAA to impose it's most serious sanction, the 'death penalty.'

Thirty years removed from that and cheating persists.

One of the important reasons for studying history is so that we don't make the same mistakes twice. But to avoid doing so, we must first realize the mistake itself.

In the instance of college football, we have not yet realized that the mistake is not with cheating, the system, or the rules. It is with the culture that surrounds the game as a whole.

Miller cheated to win, for pride. SMU did the same, but instead of lying about attendance, they used money to make it happen. Boosters pumped in thousands of dollars to fund the illegal practice and have bragging rights over their fellow country clubbers.

Today, the motive of cheating has become an unmitigated synthesis between the evils of pride and economics.

It is now almost laughable to look at something that generates over a billion dollars of revenue as being 'amateur', but college football remains so.

When there is this much money involved in the games, there is no room for error ,and the risks involved do not come near the profit that can made. Cheating and trying to get away with it is always a better option than losing.

Coaches work their entire adult lives to become the head of a big time program. Once they get there they are expected to continue or revitalize the success the program has had in the past. If they are not able to do so, then they are out on the street and minus a very substantial paycheck.

The only way to compete and excel is to have every advantage that his opposition has. If the guy in the next state over is paying for players to come, the new coach must as well. If he is running unauthorized practices, then the new coach must too. If he is fixing grades, then the new coach will also.

If he does not, he will lose recruits, have a team that is not as well prepared, some ineligible players limiting his depth, and ultimately be out of the job.

What does the coach across the way get? Pay raise, national recognition, and awards.

The players predicament in all of this is much more vague. Some, such as Reggie Bush or Cam Newton, see the NCAA as a stepping stone on their way to the NFL. And even though they can be stripped of awards, sanctions will never come down on them that will directly affect their future.

For an 18-year-old who has been told his entire life he is great and will be a star in the NFL, what is the risk they are really taking?

Reggie Bush no longer has his Heisman, but no one will doubt that he was the best player in college that season and none of this has affected his professional career.

The culture around college football does not aim to prevent cheating, but rather advise against it.This is the mistake that needs to be corrected

But in the massive machine that is contemporary big time D-I football, there is a cog way inside the innards that can manipulate and effect the rotation of all the others: this is cultural cheating.

It cannot be seen by the public, but nonetheless is just as influencing in the movement of the visible ones: those are the teams.

Up to this point the NCAA has tried to make that cog irrelevant, by putting teams on probation, scholarship sanctions, and vacating wins and championships. But doing this is just as good as pretending that cog does not exist.

Think of your watch. Behind the face is a complex system of interlocking wheels. They rotate and make the others adjacent to it move as well. All of this makes the hands move, which we recognize as the progress of time.

If you were to place another wheel inside your watch between the ones that are already there, the hands will continue to move, but not at the same intervals.

If the culture around you accepts the new intervals, then it becomes the norm and the new standard. Even though it is incorrect, it will not be questioned.

The only way to regain the correct pattern of movement is to remove the wheel and allow the watch to operate as it was originally intended.

This is what college football must do, they must remove the cog. It can no longer allow the unchecked cheating of teams to run the game. The NCAA must enact a system which will investigate and punish teams in a manner which affects them beyond the risk of the reward.

The culture of the game must be re-branded and to do so they need to close the chapters of the past and absolve everyone of their sins through confession.

The basic belief is that a majority of NCAA programs have violated the rules in one way or another. The NCAA does not have the resources to thoroughly investigate each and every school in a manner that is fair and efficient. For that reason, the best way to learn of infractions is through the schools themselves.

The NCAA should propose a resolution to have all member schools perform their own thorough investigation of their athletic departments to find any infractions that may exist currently or in the past.

The schools would then submit their reports to the NCAA so they can know who, how and when these instances occurred. The school would not face any sanctions and be able to start fresh.

An idea like this would benefit both the schools and the NCAA.

The schools would no longer have to cover up past infractions and the playing field would become more equal.

The NCAA would learn how certain infractions occurred and figure out better ways to police them.

All of this would remain completely anonymous as to not hurt the reputation of any players, coaches, or institutions. Any infractions discovered after the investigation that were not reported could then be dealt with in a severe manner that would now be warranted.

This is only a rough sketch of a possible solution, but it gets at the heart of issue. By making all past transgressions obsolete, the ghosts of lingering philosophies that preach ill will on the game, can finally be eradicated and the sport can relish in the beauty of fair competition decided on the field.