December 2, 2004
LSU bumped students grades before 2000 Peach Bowl
LSU has settled a lawsuit brought by former professor (some say campus whistle-blower) Caroline Owen. LSU says that it settled to put the issue to rest. Owen says that the settlement basically proves her claims that LSU changed players grades so they could play in the bowl game.
Owen and another kinesiology instructor, Tiffany Mayne, sued LSU in 2002, saying they were pressured to change football players' grades and hide academic misconduct during the 2000-01 school year to keep players eligible for the Peach Bowl....After an investigation into the allegations of academic fraud, LSU admitted to five secondary NCAA violations, transferred the former head of the Academic Center for Student Athletes and moved control of the center from the athletic department to the provost.
Georgia Tech Sports Blog takes it one step further: "It's official - LSU Cheated in 2002 Peach Bowl". You could make a pretty solid case for Scott's argument and he does a pretty good job himself. Essentially, Georgia Tech got jobbed by LSU officials making ineligible players eligible. Tech lost the game, and LSU went on to grab a top ranking the following pre-season, which ended in their National Championship.
UDPATE: I neglected to fully fact-check Scott's post. As pointed out in the comments below, the Peach Bowl in question was the 2000 game. Just so we're all clear, LSU changed grades so their players could play in the 2000 Peach Bowl.
Comments:
schmed said:
posted on December 2, 2004 1:43 PM — 208.248.231.58 — link — abuse?
No, the LSU National Championship Conspiracy involved hacking into the BCS computer databases to job SoCal out of the Shugabole. Now we're jobbing Auburn to revenge that new bogus "climbing-on" penalty that hasn't been called since.
Y'all can't tell me the NCAA Knotzies would hesitate for a New York nanosecond to slam LSU's football program to SMU and back if their inquisition unearthed more than that.
SEC FAN said:
posted on December 2, 2004 1:48 PM — 204.196.189.241 — link — abuse?
LSU had a couple 2nd and 3rd stringers who may have gotten their grades bumped up...and the ramblin'wreck had O'Leary a coach with impeccable credentials....NOT!!
It all comes out in the wash...and Georgia Tech still SUCKS!!
posted on December 2, 2004 2:19 PM — link — abuse?Kevin Donahue said:
Yeah, my confusion on the dates issue. Posted an update above. Should have checked GTSB's story in more detail. My bad.
-----------------------------------------------------------It kind of makes me chuckle that the argument by a few of the LSU folk who frequent Fanblogs is essentially, "Nu-uh. We cheated in 2000, not 2002!"
JGY said:
posted on December 2, 2004 9:17 PM — 68.11.82.89 — link — abuse?
Give me a break. LSU settles a lawsuit to keep it from dragging on forever and costing even more money in legal fees, so everyone is quick to jump on their integrity. It's funny when anyone tries to challenge the integrity of a Nick Saban-run program. He is a class act who makes his kids stay true student-athletes.
LSUdude said:
posted on December 2, 2004 11:05 PM — 65.148.9.9 — link — abuse?
Ok, Georgia Tech, you win. You can have the Peach Bowl victory by default. Two teachers were pressured to change grades and they did. That, somehow, is not their fault....how??? If someone can say no and they don't, then don't blame the other person. NOW, if they'd gotten fired for not changing the grades, then that's another story. Because I assure you in 2000 LSU wasn't the only school guilty of that type conduct.
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WreckerTech said:
posted on December 2, 2004 12:00 PM — 208.172.70.18 — link — abuse?That was the 2000 Peach Bowl, a little more removed for the national championship conspiracy.