Pryor and Five Other Buckeyes Suspended for Five Games, in 2011 Season; Sugar Bowl Is On!

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Five Ohio State football players, including quarterback Terrelle Pryor, must sit out the first five games of the 2011 season for accepting improper benefits, the NCAA ruled Thursday.

A sixth football player must sit out the first game in 2011 for receiving discounted services in violation of NCAA rules.

All of the players be eligible for the Jan. 4 Allstate Sugar Bowl, however.

Five players were found to have sold awards, gifts and university apparel, plus receive improper benefits in 2009. In addition to missing five games next season, Pryor, Mike Adams, Daniel Herron, Devier Posey and Solomon Thomas must repay money and benefits ranging in value from $1,000 to $2,500. The repayments must be made to a charity.

Jordan Whiting must sit out the first game next year and pay $150 to a charity for the value of services that were discounted because of his status as a student-athlete.

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said the school will appeal the suspensions.

"While we believe sanctions should be rendered, we do believe they are severe," he said Thursday at a news conference. "We do believe we can give mitigating circumstances for the NCAA to consider."

The NCAA announced the suspensions Thursday, shortly before Smith and head coach Jim Tressel were to meet with reporters to discuss the university's investigation of players trading autographs for tattoos.

Pryor is the team's star, while Herron is the leading rusher and Posey is the second-leading receiver. Adams is a starter at left tackle and Thomas a top sub on the defensive line.

Pryor must repay $2,500 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring, a 2009 Fiesta Bowl sportsmanship award and his 2008 Gold Pants, a gift from the university.

Herron must repay $1,150 for selling his football jersey, pants and shoes for $1,000 and receiving discounted services worth $150.

Posey must repay $1,250 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring for $1,200 and receiving discounted services worth $50.

Adams must repay $1,000 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring.

Thomas must repay $1,505 for selling his 2008 Big Ten championship ring for $1,000, his 2008 Gold Pants for $350 and receiving discounted services worth $155.

"These are significant penalties based on findings and information provided by the university," Kevin Lennon, NCAA vice president of academic and membership affairs, said in a statement released by the NCAA.

The players are eligible for the bowl game because the NCAA determined they did not receive adequate rules education during the time period the violations occurred, Lennon said.

"We were not as explicit with our student-athlete education as we should have been in the 2007-08 and 2008-09 academic years regarding the sale of apparel, awards and gifts issued by the athletics department," Smith said in a statement. "We began to significantly improve our education in November of 2009 to address these issues. After going through this experience, we will further enhance our education for all our student-athletes as we move forward."

"We as coaches feel the buck stops here," Tressel said at the news conference. "We're the ones who need to make things even more crystal clear."

Pryor, Herron and Posey are all eligible for the NFL draft in 2011.

Ohio State has been investigating allegations that several football players traded autographs for tattoos. Rumors first surfaced last Saturday. Athletic department officials, including Smith and Ohio State's compliance director, had refrained from addressing the allegations.

Twitter Beating Las Vegas Sports Books To The Punch With Information

By Micah Roberts
VegasInsider.com

Editor’s note: Since Micah filed this story, Ohio St. announced that five of its players are suspended for the first five games of 2011.

For the second consecutive night, users of Twitter were rewarded with key information regarding players and possible suspensions that would have a major effect of the Las Vegas betting line of those games involved. On Wednesday night, about 90 minutes before the two Las Vegas paid services sent information alerts to their subscribers on the matter, information was coming strong across the Twitter universe that nine Ohio State football players could face possible suspensions due to their involvement in an autograph trade for ink deal they had at a Columbus tattoo parlor that was being investigated by the IRS.

Nothing may come of this, and the matter could be internally investigated and self reported well after the Sugar Bowl, but what if something happens quick and the players actually get suspended. We’re talking about several key Buckeye starters, including quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who are being linked. Ohio State was a 3 ½-point favorite over Arkansas before the official alert came out. Once the alert was out, within 5 minutes, every Las Vegas sports book had taken the game down.

What’s even more amazing is that these paid services in Las Vegas weren’t even watching, or listening, to the live feed of the Las Vegas Bowl where Kirk Herbstreit broke the news story nationally which was still an hour behind the Tweets coming in. It took nearly a half-hour after Herbstreit had made the announcement for the alert to be sent to the Sports Books. Herbstreit was visibly shaken by having to announce that his alma mater and hometown team could be in trouble. Upon actually watching the Las Vegas Bowl and hearing first hand, about four Las Vegas books had taken the game off the board, while others were left exposed with a lack of information.

But in reality, every book was left exposed for over an hour. The difference in the line -- should the players be suspended -- could be almost a 10-point swing which makes the information gap the paid sources are using very outdated in this new age. Sports Books won’t last long with information gaps like that where the bettors know key reports and rumors before they do.

It’s an information driven world and Twitter is an immediate source that starts spinning before the major media gets involved with their finished copy and reports.

On Tuesday night, Twitter followers were rewarded with information on Kansas State’s best player and leading scorer, Jacob Pullen, along with the team’s second leading scorer being suspended for their game against UNLV. K-State was a 4-point favorite and the game didn’t move all day. A few of the sports books got popped with UNLV bets before the information was out giving the bettors extreme value on the game because of getting the information first through Twitter.

At about 5:20, an hour before the game had started, one of the paid consultants sent an alert stating that the two player were out. I contacted the other service about a half-hour before game time and they hadn't even sent one out yet. Even after the information, most books only adjusted the game 2-points. Two points? With the top two players out in a game that only five players are on the court at a time? UNLV won the game, but the point is more about the value gained early on before the sports books even knew what was going on.

For the last 20 years, sports books have been on an even playing field with bettors thanks to the internet and the way information has been passed along through news services. With the way Twitter works, it’s faster than the standard internet passage of information and there is a huge edge to be gained if continually searching for the right information through Twitter.

All it takes is to get a free account and set up several key words that alert you such as “Suspension”, “Injury”, or putting in an actual players name if waiting for injury information before it’s released. The window of opportunity is there to get the information before the sports books do and gain a huge edge over the house. Information is everything!

Oklahoma Sooners To Ruin Missouri's Homecoming Saturday

No. 1 Oklahoma (6-0) at No. 11 Missouri (6-0)
5:00 pm (PDT) - TV: ABC

Oklahoma -3 @ Missouri: Lots of history-busting Mizzou can do this week with a win; be 7-0 for the first time since 1960, avenge their epic 2007 season with their only losses coming from Sooners and 1986‘s worst loss (77-0) in school history, but choosing Oklahoma as your homecoming game this year is a bit cocky. That is bulletin board material to help inspire the Sooners more than need be.

The Sooners team we saw last week against Iowa State (52-0) is what we’ll see this week and it’s a major upgrade in what Missouri has faced in 2010 thus far. Mizzou has shown a great defense this year, but beating up on Colorado, Texas A&M, Miami-Ohio, McNeese State doesn’t get me excited as a potential backer this week; San Diego State almost beat Missouri at home.

The Sooners have had their struggles as well this year, but it looks like everything is aligned, set and ready to go as they are the BCS number one team in the country. They won’t let an upstart -- who they have been beating down for their entire history -- be the ones to knock them from No. 1. I could easily see the Sooners running away with this one and ruining the King and Queen of homecoming’s night.