Florida State Would Prefer To Defend Bobby Bowden

In the aftermath of the Florida State scandal in which a number of student athletes were found to be cheating on on-line exams the football team could vacate as many as 14 victories.

Head coach Bobby Bowden already trails Joe Paterno by one game in career victories (dispute that if you will) and now could lose as many as 14 games from his win total, which would almost certainly assure Paterno will retire with more career victories.

Bowden has already stated that the NCAA sanctions against Florida State is like want to try to "kill a flea with a hammer" despite claiming that this is not about him or his won totals. Part of me tends to believe Bowden.

Florida State is fighting the NCAA sanctions but it seems they are using the Bowden apologists of the state as the fuel for their anti-NCAA sanction machine. Instead the issue should be about saving the scholarships that will be lost.

While Florida State is arguing against the wins as many as 19 division one athletes may have to find somewhere else to attend college to fulfill their academics and collegiate athletics careers.

Sure Florida State will tell you that the vacation of victories will affect about 500 student athletes but somebody should tell them nobody really cares about who won or loss a basketball game three years ago, or a football game two years ago.

Florida State has an image problem besides the fraud problem. Instead of protecting a legendary coach's legacy they should be focused on their own student athletes.

I would hate to think that Penn State would react the same in a similar situation. What are your thoughts on Florida State's strategy? Is it the right way to go about it or should they analyze what they are doing a little more?

Be sure to read Selena Roberts' article on SI.com for more on Florida State's plan of attack.