The days of USC winning national titles and dominating bookmaker odds in football are over. USC was hit with major punishments by the NCAA that will impact them for years to come. The Trojans will still get respect this season at the online bookmaker but in future seasons the Trojans are going to struggle.
Bookmaker odds are off the board for USC to win the national championship since the Trojans received a two-year bowl ban. That punishment hurts but the loss of scholarships is a major blow to USC going forward. The USC football and basketball program received penalties although most of the penalties went to the football team since the basketball team had already had self-imposed sanctions.
The violations at USC revolve around former players Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo. The violations took place over almost a four-year period. The major violations surrounded Bush and Mayo. The NCAA ruled that Bush was ineligible beginning late in the 2004 season and since that is the case; Bush could end up losing his Heisman Trophy he earned in the 2005 bookmaker football season. The NCAA is also wiping out all of the victories in which Bush played while he was ineligible. That includes the BCS title game in January of 2005. That game was the culmination of the 2004 season but Bush was ruled to be ineligible starting in December of 2004. All of USC’s wins for the 2005 season were wiped out as part of the punishment.
The loss of the victories and a national championship hurts USC but the loss of scholarships is even more damaging to the team and their chances of winning vs. the online bookmaker odds. USC will lose 30 scholarships from 2011-2013. USC also received four years of probation. It will be extremely difficult for USC to win vs. bookmaker odds with the loss of scholarships and with nothing to look forward to for the players for the next two seasons since they will not be going to a bowl game.
The last team to receive punishments that resulted in a loss of post-season play was Alabama back in 2001. It took the Crimson Tide some time to recover from those penalties but they eventually did and won the national title last season.