although it reads a bit paranoid/conspiracy-theory style. There’s certainly enough of a perception of favoritism toward certain teams (which the delayed suspensions of the Tat 5 did absolutely nothing to dispel) that it’s not completely ludicrous – which in itself is a serious indictment of the conference office.

But that article glosses over quite a bit. It wasn’t just the punch, it was Gholston also getting caught on tape twisting Denard’s helmet on another play long after the whistle – and on a play where he had a James Laurinitis-like late arrival to to the pile. There was an OSU player last year or the year before that was suspended for similar conduct versus Illinois, and he hadn’t even been flagged on the play as I recall.

I don’t know whether Gholston is a thuggish player, and I have no reason to believe this wasn’t an isolated incident related to the game against a hated rival. Doesn’t change the fact that he absolutely deserved to be suspended for a game. Just because someone else may be guilty and gets away with it doesn’t mean we open up the prisons and let everyone else out.

And, no, this isn’t the first time Dantonio has been questioned about thuggish play.

I know for a fact that the Iowa coaching staff was very upset at his boorish behavior of berating the officials while standing over the unconscious body of Colin Sandeman in the “7 got 6” game a couple years ago.