Thursday, March 15, 2012

Vacating wins: Who benefits?

Over the last few years, we've seen several schools get sanctioned by the NCAA for different violations.  The most common punishment is vacating wins.

But the question I keep asking is why?

Who benefits from a team vacating a win after the fact?

For some reason, Virginia Tech has been on the losing end of games that were later vacated.  In 2004, USC beat VT in the opening game (although I still argue some questionable officiating had that game going the wrong way).  Several years later, that win was vacated as part of the Reggie Bush scandal.

It doesn't make me as a VT fan feel any better.  All I can do at this point is play "what if?"

Probably the more troubling series of events occurred in 2009.

VT lost to Georgia Tech and UNC, missing a chance for the ACC title game.  I still remember that UNC game.  I was sitting in an apartment on a deflating air mattress watching a TV that was dying.  Anything red on the screen was turning yellow and green.  And I was watching VT lose in Blacksburg on a Thursday night.

Now UNC has vacated all wins from that season.  Okay, well VT still lost to GT, so they can't go to the ACC title game.

Except that Georgia Tech also got hit with some sanctions, causing them to vacate their final 3 games - including the season ender vs. Georgia, the ACC title game, and the Orange Bowl.  (Does vacating a loss even matter?)

If these teams had been disqualified at the time, then VT would only have 1 conference loss, and would be able to represent the Coastal division due to GT's ineligibility.  Regardless of the outcome of the game, the season would have ended differently for everyone, and the ACC wouldn't have a hole in their record books when looking at conference champs.

Even if titles could be retroactively awarded, it's too late.  I want to see my team play in the big game - not be given the title years later because the true winner "cheated".  I'm still stuck with those memories of the deflating air mattress and dying TV.

What I am saying is that a vacated win is not a retroactive forfeit.  For the punished teams, it's not even a slap on the wrist.  Most of the affected players are long gone by the time any scandal is uncovered, much less punished.  Even if they are still around, they still have those memories of winning games, going to bowls, and having their 15 minutes as champions.

It doesn't matter what it says on paper 25 years later.

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