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The Florida State football team will vacate an undetermined number of wins, serve four years' probation, and face a reduction in scholarships and other penalties due to what the NCAA described Friday as "major violations" from an academic cheating scandal.

Nine other programs were also penalized -- baseball, men's track and field, women's track and field, men's swimming, women's swimming, men's basketball, women's basketball, softball and men's golf -- and face the same sanctions. Overall, the scandal involved 61 athletes.

Football coach Bobby Bowden would have entered the coming season with 382 career victories, trailing Penn State coach Joe Paterno by one win on the all-time list. The sanctions will force him to forfeit all wins during which ineligible students competed in 2006 and 2007.

It is not immediately clear how many wins Florida State will have to vacate. Dennis Thomas, the vice chair of the Committee on Infractions and acting chair for the FSU case, said only one ineligible player would have had to participate in a game for the entire team record has to be vacated. Still, Thomas said the NCAA had no evidence the university knowingly played ineligible athletes.

Florida State is considering appealing the sanction that would force them to vacate wins.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3958292

I hope they lose scholarships.

dgreco wrote:I hope they lose scholarships.

Up to three football schollies a year.

To me, the big part of the story is the vacated wins. If FSU has to vacate wins (possibly as many as 14) it will give Joe Paterno a bigger edge over Bowden on the all time wins list. A race that was neck and neck may be over pending an NCAA ruling.

BlueHen86 wrote:To me, the big part of the story is the vacated wins. If FSU has to vacate wins (possibly as many as 14) it will give Joe Paterno a bigger edge over Bowden on the all time wins list. A race that was neck and neck may be over pending an NCAA ruling.

Which might lead to a Bowden retirement if he doesn't think he can ever catch JoePa

dbackjon wrote:

BlueHen86 wrote:To me, the big part of the story is the vacated wins. If FSU has to vacate wins (possibly as many as 14) it will give Joe Paterno a bigger edge over Bowden on the all time wins list. A race that was neck and neck may be over pending an NCAA ruling.

Which might lead to a Bowden retirement if he doesn't think he can ever catch JoePa

That would be fine with me.

BlueHen86 wrote:

dbackjon wrote:
Which might lead to a Bowden retirement if he doesn't think he can ever catch JoePa

That would be fine with me.

About time they both hung it up.

grizzaholic wrote:

BlueHen86 wrote:
That would be fine with me.

About time they both hung it up.

I think Joe Pa will coach until he dies. I think both he and Bowden want the record and neither will quit one or the other dies.