"Here is the brilliance of the USC decisions to come out of the shadows and go overboard in compliance, ethics and transparency in regards to this NCAA investigation.
We have now called the NCAA's bluff--and consequently, have set an unattainable standard for SEC programs in regards to compliance, ethics and "doing the right thing".
Let's face it...college football is corrupted and flawed, whether it's the backroom deals involved in the BCS or the NCAA attack on USC fueled by anti-USC sentiment in SEC country.
USC would never ever be able to fully compete and thrive in a college football world that rewarded the underhanded ways in which SEC programs compete...and when USC tried to do things the right way under Pete Carroll and started dominating recruiting, the SEC programs were able to play dirty against us and remain unscathed in a college football system that turned a blind eye toward such actions.
So, if USC was always bound to lose or be punished in a college football world set by SEC parameters and regulated by the hypocritical NCAA, then the logical thing for USC to do is force onto college football a huge paradigm shift by calling the NCAA's bluff and going overboard with compliance efforts.
No SEC program can or would even want to reach USC's level of competency in the Athletic Department and Compliance. No one else has a Rhodes Scholar, esteemed businessman alumnus ready to step in and be the public face of their athletic program. No SEC program would double-down on compliance overhauling like USC has, with both Louis Freeh heading the task force on protecting players and families from unscrupulous agents (and providing recommendations to the NCAA on how to stop such intrusions) and a beefed-up compliance department which will be the standard for the rest of the nation.
What SEC program wants to touch that?
USC has opened the shutters and exposed hot, burning light on the whole entire issue of amateurism and hypocrisy in College Football. Now the SEC has to play by standards USC can accept for compliance because we are not corrupt and are willing to play by the rules...and not the other way around, where USC would try to play by SEC standards and get burned for not being part of the "good ol' boy network".
We've flipped the tables on the SEC. In classic jujitsu style, we've taken the NCAA's over-aggressive action toward us and using that over-reaction against them...and the SEC...by playing along and forcing the NCAA to hold the SEC schools to this same standard which they will never be able to meet.
In a way, we are being defiant toward the rest of college football by taking this high road and saying that we're going to do compliance better than any other school is able to or is willing to, and thus constricting the SEC schools' ability to run their programs with all this booster money, dirty recruiting, backdoor $100 handshakes, on-campus test fraud, etc.
USC has lived under a microscope because of its location in Los Angeles, an unfriendly press, and the NCAA bias against large-city schools that have agents and other "unfavorable entities" within driving distance of the campus.
If USC is to be punished because it is a square peg trying to fit into the round hole of NCAA bias and compliance demands, then it's better for USC to stop playing that game and force the standards to a higher level where USC can operate and other programs cannot.
We are re-inventing the environment in which college football must exist and developing a competitive edge by setting this standard for compliance and transparency that will elevate clean programs and debiliate dirty programs.
And if the NCAA decides they won't prosecute other schools with the same fervor and with the same penalties as USC, then we sue and the NCAA crumbles.
We have leverage now."
