Report Shows Why Buckeyes Were Shocked By Bowl Ban

During the football postseason, Brutus will be spending a lot of time at basketball games.

Ohio State believes the NCAA treated its football program more harshly than similar prior situations – and that a new precedent has been established.

From CBS:

Their research shows that there have been 61 major infraction cases since 2007. Thirty-one of those cases schools have been slapped with the “failure to monitor” a program designation. Ohio State was hit with both that designation as well a being named a repeat violator because of previous major violations in 2006 in basketball, within the allowed five-year window.

Failure to monitor is considered a serious violation. In the NCAA eyes it is perhaps second only to the dreaded “lack of institutional control” designation. NCAA bylaws state penalties for major violations can include “prohibition against … postseason competition.”

Twelve of those 31 cases were in football. Three of the 12 BCS conference schools were slapped with failure to monitor and repeat violator status, same as Ohio State. They were Colorado and Oklahoma in 2007 and West Virginia in 2011. None of the three got a postseason ban.

Read the whole story at the link. It shows Ohio State was genuinely surprised by the bowl ban for 2012.