Sooners to forfeit 2005 season

Last August Oklahoma starting QB Rhett Bomar and offensive lineman JD Quinn were dismissed from the team after it was discovered that they had been paid for work they did not perform at a local car dealership. A walk-on player Jermaine Hardison was also paid for work at the dealership as well as for his participation in a scrimmage and the spring game.

The NCAA led an investigation and has declared that the Sooners “demonstrated a failure to monitor” the employment of several athletes, including some football players who worked during the school year. The NCAA said that failure led to the university not detecting NCAA rules violations.

The Sooners went 8-4 and beat Oregon in the Holiday Bowl to end the 2005 season. Records from that season involving quarterback Rhett Bomar and offensive lineman J.D. Quinn must be erased, the NCAA said, and coach Bob Stoops’ career record will be amended to reflect the erased wins, dropping it from 86-19 in eight seasons to 78-19.

Oklahoma challenged the investigation saying that the NCAA should commend the school’s actions to root out violations instead of investigating them.

The NCAA has ultimately decided that Oklahoma must erase its wins from the 2005 football season and will lose two scholarships for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 school years.

Oklahoma plans to appeal the ruling and has 15 days to inform the NCAA of any appeal.

Complete details of the story can be found here.

Being A Georgia Bulldog

Growing up a Georgia Bulldog hasn’t always been easy. But when you’re the daughter of not only two UGA alums but one also being a former linebacker on the 1968 SEC Championship team loving the Dawgs is just in your blood. 

During my grade school days I was relentlessly teased by my Tennessee Volunteer loving classmates. My one ally was a South Carolina Gamecock. The Ray Goff years from 1989-1995 were pretty bleak with the 1991 and 1992 seasons being the brightest. The Jim “Donnan of a New Era” wasn’t much better. Sure the Dawgs were over .500 every season but his first but the amount of talent he squandered is just painful to remember.

Then came Georgia’s current coach Mark Richt. A good man and a successful coach. I hesitate to use the word “good” because there has been a lot of talk about just how “good” he actually is. While Richt hasn’t experienced one losing season since coming to Athens there have been moments when Georgia fans have questioned his decision making and at times very predictable playcalling. Additionally, it seems every year there are a slew of players who are forced to miss the first several games due to stupid and usually alcohol related mistakes which while I’m sure it’s always happened it has seemed to have increased (or at least the Athens-Clarke County cops have gotten tougher).

In Richt’s tenure Georgia has been to the SEC title game three times and has been crowned the SEC champion twice. He’s led the Dawgs to a 4-2 bowl record, including wins in the Sugar Bowl, the Capital One Bowl, and the Outback Bowl.