To Buckeye Fans from a USC Trojan Honk: Prepare for a Bumpy Road Ahead

Unlike the majority of pundits who appear unable to write anything other than decrying the "horrible" transgressions of your head coach, Jim Tressel, this piece will not engage in that negativity.

Rather, as a featured columnist here at Bleacher Report who writes almost exclusively about the USC Trojans and one who has suffered through the slings and arrows that you are just now preparing to face, I offer a shoulder to cry on and a road map to negotiate the tough times ahead.

And to be sure, there will be tough times ahead.

You see, no matter how responsible your head coach and program has been in the past, you will inevitably be facing the sanctimonious powers that be, namely the NCAA.

Take it from one who has been there, there is no winning that battle.

And while you are waiting to see the punishment handed down, prepare to twist in the wind for awhile.

Make that a LONG while.

In the case of the Trojans, it took five long years for the "brain trust" at the NCAA to decide that Pete Carroll and his coaching staff should have been in on what was going on with every player in the program.

Whether or not you agree with the punishments meted out to USC, five years is far too long for any program to hang in limbo.

While it may not take that long for Tressel and your Buckeyes to find out your punishment, expect it to take more time than it should, and when the ruling comes down from on high, expect the NCAA to somehow get it wrong.

For those of you who think this is simply the bitter railing of an ardent Trojan fan, you are only partially right.

More to the point, it is the solemn musing of someone who has seen the NCAA's act too many times and knows what is in store for your otherwise stellar program.

Did coach Tressel make a mistake?

Yes, and so did Pete Carroll.

But in the grand scheme of things, was this error in judgment so egregious that it should cost an otherwise unblemished program the heartache you will almost certainly experience?

No.

Jim Tressel has always run a tight ship and here in America, we are supposed to forgive singular mistakes.

That is not to say that some form of punishment should be handed out.

Which brings us back to my USC Trojans and the NCAA's pompous way of sitting in judgment on all things college football.

Unfortunately, because the NCAA laid the hammer down so excessively on the Trojans, they are almost obligated to nail the Buckeyes.

Its not fair but if the Trojans displayed a "lack of institutional control," then so did the Buckeyes.

And so expect them to compound their error and lay the punishment on thick for Ohio State.

Crazy as it seems, that is how they operate and though it makes little sense, the NCAA is more concerned about preserving their image than they are about the good of college football, much less any single program.

So prepare for a bumpy road ahead, Buckeye fan.

Most Trojan fans deep down feel your pain.

At least the honest ones anyway.

And this Trojan fan, for one, hopes that your road isn't filled with the divots my boys experienced.

I truly do.