Off Tackle Empire, for Big Ten coverage

"In a signal that tougher penalties likely loom, the NCAA has notified Ohio State University that it is facing a charge of failing to monitor its violation-plagued football program. Failure to monitor is the second-worst finding the NCAA can impose on an athletic program. Ohio State announced the NCAA findings this afternoon and that it would cut five scholarships over a three-year period beginning next year. The NCAA allows football programs to have 85 scholarship players. A spokesman for Ohio State athletics said the self-imposed punishment would not mean the Buckeyes would pare back to 80 scholarships over the next three years. He said that the team might not use, say, two of the 85 in 2012, one in 2013 and two in 2014, for a total of five over the period. The NCAA previously had notified OSU that it was not being accused of failure to monitor or the worst charge — loss of institutional control. The NCAA’s move to invoke the charge now means that the NCAA considers the violations committed by Ohio State to stem from a central problem, rather than individual misdeed."

NCAA football is at a crossroads. While the sport is seeing record revenues thanks to giant television contracts and merchandise sales, there is also a cancer that is permeating what is rapidly becoming America's pastime.