Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Don’t go looking for last season’s Sugar Bowl trophy in the Broyles Complex. It’s not coming to Fayetteville.

While Ohio State announced Friday a variety of self-imposed sanctions that included vacating its Sugar Bowl victory against Arkansas, that doesn’t mean things change for the Razorbacks. Technically, they still lost the game despite the Buckeyes trying to avoid stiff NCAA penalties by vacating the win.

So, nothing really changes for the Razorbacks. Arkansas doesn’t get an additional cut of Sugar Bowl money. There’s no trumpeting an 11-2 season now instead of 10-3.

Ultimately, this is about Ohio State trying to soften the blow once the NCAA rules on its infractions. Granted, the Razorbacks played the Buckeyes and suffered because OSU used ineligible players, but it changes nothing for Arkansas.

Which explains why the University of Arkansas was noticeably quiet on Friday.  There was no official comment from Athletic Director Jeff Long or Coach Bobby Petrino.

Makes complete sense to me.

This issue is far more about Ohio State than Arkansas, so there’s no real benefit to commenting. Long and Petrino have previously questioned the way the case was handled and are very likely now focused on 2011 (or vacation. Maybe both).

Now we get to see if the NCAA handles this Ohio State mess any better than it did before the Sugar Bowl. Ohio State was allowed to use ineligible players in that game and as Jim Harris points out in a column, most of those should-have-been-suspended players made significant impacts on the game.

For whatever reason Ohio State, the Sugar Bowl and the NCAA were OK with them being on the field for their final game of last season. They were OK with it despite the five players being suspended for the first five games of 2011.

Admitting now that they shouldn’t have used those players really isn’t much of a punishment for Ohio State. They presumably get to keep their cut of the tens of millions paid out by the Sugar Bowl, won because they played ineligible players.

Personally, I think if a team vacates a victory, the loser should get to adjust its record. Not that it would take the sting of losing away, but it would be a start.

Teams caught breaking the rules should also be forced to pay back their earnings. Maybe the bowl gets to keep it and turn it over to charity (these bowls are supposed to be “non-profits” by the way). Perhaps a cut of the vacated money goes to the loser. It definitely shouldn’t stay in the coffers of a team that cheats.