USC students lament NCAA penalties, worry about school spirit

The news that USC’s football team faces severe NCAA penalties, including a two-year ban on bowl games, spread across the campus Thursday like word of a death in the family.

But as with most days of mourning, there also was hope that life somehow will continue in the land of Troy.

USC film student Tyrone Edmond, who recently bought season football tickets, likened the sanctions and its effect on the school to "cutting the nervous system out of the USC body."

"I think it will hamper the lifestyle and spirit of the campus when football season comes around because every college wants that promise of the bowl game," he said outside a campus library. ‘It’s the ultimate culmination when you win a trophy and bring it back home."

Ken Sulcer, who works as a human resources technician in the campus ROTC program, also predicted that the penalties, if upheld, would reduce the normal excitement toward the end of football season.

"It’s like you celebrate Christmas but there’s no Santa Claus," he said. And if USC’s team does well in the regular season, "people will be asking: ‘Aren’t we supposed to be going somewhere?’ " he said, referring to bowl game travels. "Things are going to be a little different around here."

With regular classes over, the campus was relatively quiet Thursday. One of the few points of activity was an orientation program for incoming freshmen.

Among them was Jorge Adler, a new business student from San Diego, who said he was disappointed to learn about the penalties but still looking forward to attending Trojan football games.

"It’s still college football and it’s still USC," he said. And if there is no chance of a bowl game for two years, Adler said:  "We will just have to look forward to our junior year."

--Larry Gordon

Photo: Reggie Bush

Credit: Associated Press

Comments

[Chris]

Cheat On!

[Mark Schweitzer]

Fight On....in 2 years....

[William Kilmer]

USC plays two "Bowl" type games every year... Notre Dame and UCLA. Win both and it is more than enough to get the average fan through the off season. Sit Barkley down and let Mitch Mustain play out this season. He deserves it.

[redbanana]

Rather than mourn a corrupt and disgraced football program, why don't the next generation of Trojans work on making the school great in other respects--like, say, in academics. USC is at best a fair undergraduate institution that has long attracted its fans (and students) by parading celebs on the sidelines at televised sporting events. You want school spirit? Get a degree and make a difference in the world. Then future Trojans can boast about your legacy while self-serving, sleazy alumni like Reggie Bush recede into the past.

[Bea Mused]

Really? Southern Cal students are whining because they cannot anticipate enjoying a bowl game as prestigious as last year's Emerald Nuts Bowl? They should be hanging their heads in shame for the stigma of attending the University of Sanctioned Cheaters.

[mas]

The NCAA sanctions are highly disproportionate to the alleged offenses. It also took the NCAA four years to make this mistake, a further sign of incompetence. I am sure the University will fight this and they have a few hundred thousand alumni behind them. FIGHT ON!