"This is no different than somebody going to Mount Rushmore and defacing one of the heads..."

Jail time may be the least of the worries of the person responsible for poisoning the soil around Toomer's Corner. Bo Jackson wants a piece of him first. The former Auburn running back on WJOX radio in Birmingham, Alabama:

"This is no different than somebody going to Mount Rushmore and defacing one of the heads of the Presidents that's at Mount Rushmore. It is no different than that. This is a 130 year old tree that has never played a football game, has never been in Jordan-Hare Stadium, has nothing to do with what goes on in Bryant [Denny] Stadium or Jordan-Hare Stadium. Has nothing to do with that. And then to sit and brag about it.

This person, it doesn't matter if he's an Auburn fan or Alabama fan, needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. If it was my own child, and I'm not just saying this but if it was my own child I would expect him to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But first the authorities need to let me spend five minutes with him in a room."

The "fullest extent of the law" for being found guilty of criminal mischief, a class C felony in Alabama, would be 10 years in prison and a $5000 fine according to this website.

Good luck to the lawyers trying to find a good precedent for this case leading up to trial. I'd guess it never reaches that point and the person responsible agrees to a plea deal with plenty of probation and very little time behind bars. Perhaps his biggest concern will be once he leaves prison if he attempts to resume a normal life in the state of Alabama.

"I really don't think so, honestly..."

On the day of the BCS Title Game, one Heisman Trophy winner says this year's winner shouldn't be allowed to play in the game.

Doug Flutie asked by Boomer Esiason on WFAN in New York if Cam Newton should be allowed to take the field for Auburn against Oregon tonight:

"I really don't think so, honestly. The bottom line is the way the rule was written, that if a family member solicited a player, he became ineligible.

And then all of a sudden, after the fact, he's declared ineligble one day, then eligible the next day, and they're going to rewrite the rule in saying it's not appropriate.

Same principle as Terrelle Pryor playing in a bowl game when he's suspended for next year."

I don't recall another member of the "Heisman fraternity" publicly coming out against its latest member until now.

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"Initially, I had Auburn by half a point. Now, I've gone to Oregon by half a point..."

Fans, and gamblers, try their best to factor in the unique variables that exist in a bowl game scenario.

Former Colorado and Northwestern coach Gary Barnett claims that bowl prep factor is in Oregon's favor and he shared with Petros and Money on Fox Sports radio:

"Initially, I had Auburn by half a point. Now, I've gone to Oregon by half a point. That's how sure I am of this one.

The only thing I'm going on is -- indications I'm getting is -- Oregon's holding a pretty tight ship down here and Auburn's letting the kids run a little bit.

My personal experience with that is when I let kids run, they lose sight and lose a little focus.

We played Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl when Oregon really held their guys on a tight leash and they really performed well in that game. And our guys weren't on a tight leash and we didn't perform well.

So, that's all I have to go on."

Barnett is referring to the 2002 Fiesta Bowl: Oregon 38, Colorado 16.

A game in which both teams went into it with an argument for being in the national title game instead.

Instead, the convoluted system placed Nebraska in the showcase game against Miami and the Huskers got hammered.

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"The people that need to know the facts, know what happened..."

As more and more details about Cameron Newton's intriguing college journey come to light, those close to the situation are beginning to tighten their lips.

Dan Mullen, current Mississippi State head coach and former offensive coordinator at Florida, on Mad Dog Radio/Sirius XM wasn't willing to confirm or deny alleged monetary demands made by the Newton family during the recruiting process:

"The people that need to know the facts, know what happened and I'll leave it at that. The people that need this stuff reported to them, got stuff reported to them as far as we're concerned."

If the response does anything, it seems to confirm that there was something worth reporting to the NCAA.

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"If Tim (Tebow) had left his junior season, who knows where I would be right now?..."

Why is Florida mired in a 3 game losing streak while Cameron Newton flies high at Auburn. Newton claims it's because of Tim Tebow and not the infamous laptop.

As told to the Jim Rome radio show:

"I left the University of Florida because of the fact that Tim Tebow was coming back for his senior season. My passion was still at Florida but everything doesn't happen the way you want it to and God has a purpose in your life that you really can't see so I had to walk by faith and not by sight and I had to leave the University of Florida and I transferred to a junior college because Tim came back for his senior season.

If Tim had left his junior season, who knows where I would be right now?"

Who knows? Wouldn't the answer obviously be Florida? Let's get one more breakdown of that laptop incident since he'll need to be practicing the story for NFL personnel at the Combine in either 2011 or '12:

"Simply and plain. I made a bad decision. Something can be too good to be true. A guy had came to me to sell me clothes out of the trunk of his car but I didn't need clothes...

He came with the purpose of trying to sell me clothes and he didn't have clothes (that were the right size.) I told him what I really needed. He had it and the price that he told me, it slapped me as if it was too good. So anytime a person comes up with an excellent way of coming upon a deal, I'm all for it.

I didn't know at the time, but when the detectives came to my room, I knew the first thing they was looking for. And now that I look back at it, would I make that decision? No, I would not. I learned so much from that incident and I think that has made me the person am I to this day."

Everything seems to make sense other than the idea that, regardless of staying or going, he wouldn't be a starting quarterback at an FBS school until 2010.

So starting one year at a junior college in Texas is better than waiting one year for Tebow to graduate?

Sorry, Cameron. Something still doesn't smell quite right.

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"I tell you one thing. You got an argument that you can't win right here..."

What started several weeks ago as a humorous interview with two former Alabama coaches turned sour in a hurry on the Paul Finebaum radio show this week.

The situation went south after Gene Stallings and Pat Dye were made aware of a remark by former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach in a prior appearance on the show:

"Last time I checked those two fellas were fired too but based on the success that they had, I guess I'm in pretty good company. Although suffice it to say, I didn't get fired for violating NCAA rules."

That led to Stallings directing an offensive toward the radio host:

"Obviously somewhere along the line, Mike Leach said that I was fired because of NCAA violations and that's absolutely not right at all. Nothing could be further from the truth than that.

"It was also reported to me that you said that you knew without a doubt that I was asked to resign. That's not right at all. I just want to make sure that your listeners know what's true and what's not true."

Pat Dye offered a similar response:

"I wasn't fired and a long way from being fired. You'd have to call somebody that's more important than me at Auburn and ask them."

"You could have defended me."

Stallings:

"That's my point also."

When told by the host that he had "sources" to confirm that Stallings was forced out at Alabama, the former coach responded:

"You do not have anybody to back up the fact that I was asked to resign. Nobody even knew I was going to resign. Not one soul other than the president and my family knew that. I resigned at a press conference."

"And I had reasons for resigning. Not a soul even implied that. Had no buyout or nothing."

Dye:

"Just take one thing into consideration and what you're dealing with. Is Coach Stallings welcomed back to Tuscaloosa and Alabama?"

"I tell you one thing. You got an argument that you can't win right here..."

It is true that both Stallings and Dye are in "good standing" with Alabama and Auburn respectively. Stallings has a statue in honor of the national championship won under his watch while the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium is named after Dye.

It is also fact that both left their programs at the tail end of major NCAA investigations. It is also a fact that neither coach was found to have directly committed any wrongdoing.

What is left up to interpretation is the nature of their departures from their universities.

Both technically resigned and apparently do not take kindly to the idea of anyone suggesting they were "fired" or "forced out."

Duly noted... and thanks for the great radio.

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"I wanted some things too..."

Charles Barkley is defending college athletes accused of taking money from agents because he did it himself. On the Dan Patrick radio show, Barkley goes into specific examples of items he bought courtesy of agents while at Auburn:

"Players, going back to my day in 1984, got money from agents. This ain't something that just happened last week or last month. It happens a lot. It's always happened a lot and I think it's so hypocritical of these college coaches to come out and act like the world is crumbling."

"I borrowed a couple dollars from a few agents. I think maybe two or three total (agents) I borrowed some money from but I paid them back."

"They're not allowed to do it but we all did it. We wanted some money. Colleges weren't giving you any money. I wanted some things too. I wanted a nice pair of slacks. I might've wanted a coat during the winter. I might've wanted to help my mom pay some bills. These colleges, they're not giving you any money. They're making tons of money. They're making tons more now, I might add."

"These colleges are out there raiding other people's conferences, not caring about tradition or rivalries, just trying to get bigger TV markets. And they want to get out there to some kid who's poor and is trying to help his family? Gimme a break."

If an easy answer existed to the age old problem of "amateur" athletes making millions for institutions and television networks, it would have been solved by now. There are several issues that haven't been properly resolved.

First, is the concept that a net profit is gained by schools playing Division 1 college football. If NCAA studies are to be believed, only a fraction of the 120 institutions playing football are a part of athletic departments that make money. What isn't factored into those studies is the value of the publicity gained for the rest of the university when it comes to increased admissions, charitable giving, etc. From that standpoint, football (and athletics) would have to be viewed as an effective "loss leader" or it wouldn't exist.

Do you pay athletes in just revenue generating sports (football, men's basketball) or every athlete on campus? How much should they receive?

Since most athletic departments report a net loss, could a percentage of money from television contracts be directly earmarked for the athletes?

Since they want to share in revenue generated, would it be fair that a stipend for a football player at UNLV be for less money than one at LSU?

Of course, the biggest hurdle toward any change is that those pocketing the money won't be sharing it anytime soon unless they have to and, despite efforts in recent years, college athletes don't have a union or any sort of effective representation in this matter.

Which means players will keep taking money from those who offer it to them. Others around them may have been caught but, like Charles Barkley, nobody takes cash from an agent and plans on getting busted. And, just like Barkley, enough of them consider it worth the gamble.

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Former NBA star Charles Barkley entertains hundreds of players, fans, and media at the Mayor's Banquet the day before the Central Michigan and Troy football teams are scheduled to play each other at the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Alabama. Barkley sounds off on the two teams, the Alabama Crimson Tide, Rush Limbaugh and much more.

Full transcript below:

Emcee:

Please welcome Sir Charles Barkley.

Charles Barkley:

When they told me the mayor was Sam Jones, I got excited. I didn't realize it was going to be this Sam Jones. I thought it was going to be the real Sam Jones.

I haven't got a chance to meet Dan LeFevour, but the message to him is he still will never be as big as Dan Majerle.

I want to give a shout out to the Trojans because their coach was at Auburn when I was there and I was joking with him. He tried to get me to play football. And I told him, "Coach, I tried to play football one day. It wasn't a lot of fun for me."

I told Coach Blakeney if he wanted to win a couple more games, all he's gotta do is get that Alabama preseason schedule.

I'm an Auburn fan and these Alabama fans... This could be the longest year of our lives if they win. This could be the longest week. This is going to be the longest 3 or 4 days for Auburn people they are the worst winners in the history of civilization. I mean they are the worst winners in the history of civilization. So we're kind of walking around on egg shells. We can't wait for this week to be over.

If they lose this game, this will be devastating for like a month. It will be unbelievable. I mean, seriously, they'll be like mass suicides. It'll be like Jim Jones again. I mean they might actually kill themselves.

I always tell people the 3 saddest days of my life: the day Elvis died, the day JFK died, and the day Alabama fired Mike Shula. I was like, "Please don't fire him. Please don't fire him. He's the best coach we got at Auburn."

I think one of the reasons that I'm successful on television. I always tell people that I'm never going to lie and I think that's important and significant. I could be an idiot like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs and all those guys who have a check, that's full of it. But I say television is a very powerful thing. People believe what we say and I said I will never use it for my financial gain. Whether people agree or disagree, I think it's important to always try to be honest when you're on television.

I want to thank everybody very much and, hey, have fun at the game too. Thank you very much.

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