Cam Newton Plays: College Football Knows It Needs Its Top Gun Out on the Field

Wait, for a second there, you didn’t actually think the NCAA was going to rule Auburn quarterback Cameron Newton ineligible did you?

Newton, the clear-cut front-runner for the Heisman trophy and undisputed leader of the No. 1-ranked Auburn Tigers, has been the true breakout star of the 2010 college football season. It’s not like the NCAA was going to let a little scandal tarnish the upcoming Heisman Trophy ceremony and spoil a perfectly good ratings opportunity that an Oregon vs. Auburn National Championship Game represents.

No, no, no, no. If we’re looking at the Reggie Bush timetable, that ineligibility declaration won’t happen for at least a good three to four years.

You know, give it enough time to let the tides of the scandal wash out to sea, have everyone forget and then bring down the hammer. That’s the way the college football boys like to do it, isn’t it?

On Wednesday, NCAA investigators found that every sports outlet’s favorite flavor of the month story—Cam Newton’s father asked for a pay-for-play plan in return his son’s signature—did indeed turn out to be true. And what did they do about it?

They sucked it up, realized the consequences of the discovery and punished the one man who would have the least effect on the last month of the college football season: Cam Newton’s father Cecil.

Hmmm.

The NCAA’s apparent conclusion: Cam Newton and Auburn knew nothing of his father’s actions therefore they did not deserve to be punished. Just like USC knew nothing of Reggie Bush and his family’s dealing with an agent therefore didn’t receive any punishment for his outside actions.

Oh wait.

Now I’ve been a staunch defender of Newton through this whole ordeal but even I have to question the NCAA’s motives with this one.

Well for one, we all know the biggest motive for this decision is money. Let's not kid ourselves. The NCAA needs its biggest name on the field to rake in every single cent possible. A lot of people are going to be making a good deal of money from this Saturday’s SEC Championship game and that number gets multiplied exponentially if Auburn wins and ends up in the National Title game.

Those guys standing on the sidelines in those BCS blazers need a new property somewhere or other. We can’t have college football’s big star in street clothes.

The NCAA’s clear view with this decision—let's let Cam play, put up the highlights, bring in the bucks then let him declare for the NFL after the season, then he’s out of our hair.

If we have to revoke a championship a few years down the road, oh well, so be it. Everybody will still know what occurred on the field. It’s not as if the “yeah, we’re just going to erase history and pretend like that never happened” solution ever has any credence anyway.

I think we all saw USC dismantle Oklahoma down in Miami in 2005. Just because we learned a few years later that Reggie Bush was doing what the majority of college football’s big names do and taking a little extra on the side didn’t force us into a Twilight Zone epiphany.

The NCAA has done what’s in their best interests in this whole Cam Newton situation and let their superstar strap 'em up.

Sure, in a few years, they’ll probably “conclude” that Cam Newton had some wrongdoing in the whole ordeal and force unfair sanctions on whoever is left to deal with the consequences, but by then the money they made off him will probably be well spent.

That’s what the big business of college football and all the "partners" do best these days—earn all the money off the players while you can. If a few legacies and images have to be tarnished down the road then that’s just the way it is.

Cam Newton is good to go, Auburn is now cleared to win a national championship and college football is ready to become the biggest beneficiary from it all.

Because in the end, it’s never the actual players and schools who really win, just the business of college football. They’ll collect all the money now and then just for good measure, they’ll take that crystal title trophy back in a few years time.

Right USC?