USC Stripped of a Title

The NCAA has already come down very hard on USC in recent history because of their recruiting violations, especially with Reggie Bush and OJ Mayo. They have taken away scholarships, bowl appearances, and even wins during their seasons years ago. Most of this was, of course, applicable to college football. But the punishment was not done yet. Today, the BCS stripped USC of their 2004 BCS National Championship. They vacated the results of that game at the Orange Bowl as well as their participation in the following BCS Title game against Texas in which they lost. As a result, there will be no champion for 2004.

I'm honestly fine with punishing a program to bring them down a peg but taking away National Titles seems a little overblown. Don't get me wrong, USC broke the rules and in a way they shouldn't have the title but everyone still knows they won it. It's like everyone knows Pete Rose is a Hall of Fame player but is not in the Hall of Fame. I SAID "LIKE" THAT, IT'S NOT A PERFECT COMPARISON!!! Quite frankly I would actually like more sanctions on USC than they have now. Now I must admit I don't much like USC but with good reason, they cheat.

I still think college football needs to change their rules significantly but if a school breaks a rule that is currently in place, punish their future harshly, not their past. It may mean something to their so called prestige but not much more than that.

P.S. A major difference between this and Pete Rose was that Pete Rose was never thrown out of the Baseball Hall of Fame, he was just declared banned from baseball and ineligible for Hall of Fame entry forever (Not that Cooperstown wouldn't have thrown him out if he was in the Hall of Fame at the time).