This summer USC’s NCAA sanctions ended and following this season, the Trojans will be allowed to field a full team of scholarship players and sign a full recruiting class for the first time since 2012.
Of course, that doesn’t stop the world from talking about those sanctions and the NCAA has given plenty of opportunities for the Trojans’ punishment to become the topic of the day as compared to penalties for other teams around the nation.
Monday, the discussion started all over again as the NCAA announced that Penn State’s sanctions for harboring and enabling assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, a now-convicted child molester, have been lifted. Effective immediately, Penn State will be eligible for postseason play and beginning next year they will have their full compliment of scholarships restored.
Needless to say, those connected to USC on social media had more than a little to say, with widely ranging opinions:
“@ArashMarkazi: In terms of punishment, USC was hit harder for Reggie Bush than Penn State was for Jerry Sandusky. #NCAA” absolute joke
— Matt Leinart (@MattLeinartQB) September 8, 2014
The whole PSU thing is nutty, but hey have you seen the B1g Ten play this year? The NCAA figured they could use all the help possible aha
— Dion Bailey (@dbailey_18) September 8, 2014
I don’t blame the USC people for being mad. That whole deal was about punishing Mike Garrett for fighting that case.
— Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) September 8, 2014
Per NCAA, harboring a sexual deviant < not knowing about a player's parents' housing situation 2 hours away #usc #PennState
— Michael Lev (@MichaelJLev) September 8, 2014
So NCAA giving Penn State all of its scholarships back & making it bowl-eligible immediately is the final punishment for #USC AD Pat Haden?
— Max Meyer (@TheMaxMeyer) September 8, 2014
As Trojans we aren't outraged about PSU's situation…it's not about PSU…it's about inconstancy and BLATANT targeting by NCAA IC towards USC.
— USC Trojans Football (@uscfootball) September 8, 2014
You can argue PSU/USC/UNC/UM all day but bottom line is entire PSU case w/ NCAA is perfect representation of making it up as they go along
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) September 8, 2014
Post sanctions, USC hired a new president, AD, coach, largest compliance office in the country. Could not have done more to show "progress."
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) September 8, 2014
USC has every right to be mad PSU got scholis/eligibility back. But every PSU player who had nothing to do w/ Sandusky has right to play.
— Jessica Benson (@jessbensontv) September 8, 2014
#USC lost 30 initial scholarships and 30 total scholarships over 3 years. #PennState ended up with 15 initial and 10 total over 2 years.
— Ryan Abraham (@insidetroy) September 8, 2014
#USC's 52 recruited scholarship players that made the trip to Stanford obviously had nothing to do w/ what Reggie Bush did a decade ago.
— Ryan Abraham (@insidetroy) September 8, 2014
USC is 2-0 right now with wins over Stanford two years in a row. Is this REALLY what you want to spend your time talking about?
— Thanos (@FightOnTwist) September 8, 2014
The beauty of it is that despite the @NCAA's best efforts to obliterate #USC they failed in catastrophic fashion. USC still shines bright!
— USC Psycho ? (@uscpsycho) September 8, 2014