Down The Drive, a Cincinnati Bearcats community

Here's the thing about the plucky, upstart schools clambering up the ladder of college football's highest echelon: Their time has come. That is, it's time to peel back their fingers and let them fall.

The nation's poorer programs need to drop down because they drain money from their schools, keep bigger programs from reforming rules and often limp along academically—all while having no real shot at winning it all.

Although the Commission proposed that a number of the problems be handled by presidents through the instrument of the NCAA (The National Collegiate Athletic Association), it acknowledged that "the NCAA has many critics" and also that "some of the members of this Commission are among the organization's more severe critics; most of us are not."

However, it also pointed out that if the NCAA did not exist, the universities would "have to create it, or something very much like it" because "a governing, rulemaking and disciplinary body of some sort is required." It also pointed out that, since the NCAA is the "creature of its own members," those members "have only themselves to blame for its shortcomings."

NCAA president Mark Emmert said Tuesday that he believes coaches who lie to NCAA investigators should be subject to the same type of punishment given to student-athletes who lie to NCAA investigators.

"I certainly believe [the same guidelines] should apply, of course," Emmert said. "[They should apply] at least as much [as they apply to student-athletes]."

Note that the sextet will not miss the Sugar Bowl, because "the student-athletes did not receive adequate rules education during the time period the violations occurred" – even though the NCAA decided to dock a fifth game on top of the standard four-game suspension because the players "did not immediately disclose the violations when presented with the appropriate rules education."

Kansas State’s Jacob Pullen and Curtis Kelly won’t play against UNLV. Both committed a secondary violation of NCAA rules. [...] Both players received impermissible benefits on the purchase of clothing at a local department store. [...] NCAA has ruled Pullen must miss 3 games but has yet to decide on Kelly’s status/punishment.

If there is some sort of documentation through Facebook that Hawkins misrepresented himself to Green, that is different. That is proof that Green didn't know what he was doing -- beyond, of course, the original issue of selling the jersey in the first place. If there were ever an extenuating circumstance, you would think that would meet the definition. In that case, the NCAA should consider reducing Green's suspension to the two games he will miss.

Georgia officials are hoping the NCAA makes a ruling on Green's eligibility as soon as Wednesday. . . .

A person familiar with the NCAA investigation told ESPN.com that Green did not sell his jersey on eBay and received less than $1,000 for it. The source said Green has been forthcoming and honest with NCAA investigators, but added there were "some twists and turns" involved with the case.

Green, a preseason All-SEC selection, also is linked to the NCAA's ongoing investigation into alleged improper contact with agents by players at Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina. But a person familiar with the investigation told ESPN.com that Green has adamantly denied attending the agent-sponsored party in Miami or ever traveling to South Florida. . . .

Bulldogs coach Mark Richt told reporters he hoped to learn Green's fate sometime this week.

"I'd be highly disappointed if we don't hear something this week," Richt said on Tuesday. "I would think we will."

In a similar vein, the median institutional subsidy for athletics in the FBS rose from around $8 million in 2007-8 to more than $10 million in 2008-9. This reliance on institutional funds has increased as the growth in median revenue generated directly by athletics programs in the FBS — via sources such as ticket sales and media contracts — slowed to nearly 6 percent from 2008 to 2009. This is down significantly from the 17 percent growth in revenue from 2007 to 2008. By comparison, total athletics expenses sped in the other direction, ballooning by nearly 11 percent. This is double the growth in expenses from 2007 to 2008.

Hahaha this talk bout AJ is hilarious..that country boy ain't never been to Miami!!! You can put those rumors to rest...

North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall today launched an investigation into possible improprieties by sports agents in the state.

Spokesman George Jeter said the department hasn't received a complaint but is responding to media reports of possible NCAA violations that may have been caused by improper contact between agents and college athletes.

"That's it, precisely," Jeter said. "The number of media reports coming out and talking about possibly things that might have happened and possibly actions by agents, or people who should be agents if they're not, [sparked the investigation]."