Cheating Scandal to cost Bowden
Florida St was recently punished after 25 players were caught as part of a cheating scandal at the school and as a punishment the school had to give back 14 wins. For a great program like Florida St this may not seem like much but who it effects is a big deal. For my entire lifetime Bobby Bowden has been the head coach for the Seminoles and has accumulated a ton of wins. He currently sits neck and neck with Joe Paterno at Penn st for the most wins by a major college coach. By giving up these 14 wins he will undoubtedly not catch Paterno unless Paterno retires shortly and that doesn’t look like it will happen.
Florida St used to dominate the ACC when they were first put in. In fact, I recently compared them to Memphis basketball in conference Usa now. It was a joke in the early days because no team could play with Florida st but now they are a middle of the pack team that has improved greatly while Florida St regularly gets beat out in recruiting by powerhouse FLorida and Urban Meyer. Florida St is a top 25 program but they aren’t a national championship threat like they used to be. Meanwhile, Joe Paterno is back on top at Penn st and they are a program competing for Big Ten titles and BCS bowl games. Both conferences have their drawbacks but both are solid football conferences producing great teams each year. Paterno has the edge regardless of the 14 wins but if Bowden and FLorida St lose this appeal then they can expedite getting Bowden out and getting a new coach in because I believe that is why he is still sticking around anyway.
It’s a shame if you ask me that the wins would be forfeited but what else can they do. These kids still kept their scholarships and they shouldn’t go to jail over it. What do you do to punish those directly involved? I guess you punish the program by taking away wins because I don’t know what else you could do. I expect the punishment to stick.
