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19 July 2010
Apparently last year's Sugar Bowl may be even more meaningless than I originally thought.
ESPN is reporting that former Florida center Maurkice Pouncey is being investigated for possibly receiving money from an agent after the Gators' loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship game, but prior to their Sugar Bowl win over Cincinnati. If this turns out to be true, Pouncey would be declared ineligible, and in all likelihood, Florida would have to forfeit that victory.
I'm not too concerned with giving up that Sugar Bowl. Once they lost to 'Bama, the Gators' season essentially ended, as they entered the year in the unenviable position of failing with anything less than a national title. Yes, it was great to win and great to see UC fans put in their place, especially since I live in Cincinnati and I was incredibly sick of hearing about how good tthe Bearcats were, despite the fact that they routinely played high school teams last year on their way to a 12-0 regular season record. No, what concerns me now is the image of Florida taking a big hit and the doors being opened for more investigations.
If Pouncey took money, then even as it pains me to admit it, I'm sure he wasn't the only one. Florida has a ton of players looking toward NFL futures, and like any elite college football program, agents are going to be crawling over campus trying to work their way into those players' inner circles. If the staff doesn't make it absolutely clear that any contact with agents is prohibited, and then do their best to enforce that, than they're responsible when something like this happens. No excuses, no turning a blind eye or pretending they didn't know what was happening. Discipline starts at the top, and when something goes wrong, they have to be accountable.
Even if nothing comes of this, the national image of Florida is now going to be the same as USC...which isn't good. It's one thing to be hated for what you do on the field, it's quite another to be mocked and hated for being perceived as dirty and cheating. While some may argue, I feel Florida has definitely fallen more into the former category the last few years; now it appears they could be heading toward the latter.
We'll see what happens with the investigation, but the fact that there is an investigation in the first place doesn't bode well for Florida. Thanks a lot Maurkice - hope it was worth it.
