Posted by 
Making the morning rounds.
• They’re my wins, maw. I’ll do the vacatin’. After nearly a solid year of haggling and appeals with the NCAA, Florida State finally, officially vacated a dozen wins from two of the worst seasons of the Bobby Bowden era, 2006 and 2007, as penance for playing ineligible players who had been caught up in a widespread cheating scandal involving an online music. The revision will take five of seven wins from the ‘06 team, including the Emerald Bowl triumph over UCLA, and all seven victories from the ‘07 campaign. Officially, Bowden finishes with 377 career wins, and none of the results being stricken from the book came over Miami, Clemson, Florida or, soberingly, Wake Forest.
For opponents that did wind up on the wrong side of the ‘Noles on the field, though, sorry: FSU’s wins were vacated, not forfeited, and will still count as losses on the records of the teams the ‘Noles defeated. [Tallahassee Democrat]
• Hey, pundits, leave my kid alone. ESPN Los Angeles digs a little deeper into USC’s bizarre recruitment of a 13-year-old quarterback from Delaware, including a defense from the wunderkind’s father, David Sills IV, who said “I’m just trying to give him every opportunity that I can” as father and son hopped a train into New York City for an interview on Good Morning America. But the most interesting detail: Lane Kiffin reportedly offered the young ‘un a scholarship without ever seeing him throw or apparently even meeting him in person, based on a video tape and the recommendation of personal coach Steve Clarkson, who’s previously worked with SoCal prodigees Matt Leinart, Jimmy Clausen and Matt Barkley, among others. [ESPN Los Angeles]
• Raiders don’t hate, they self-flagellate. The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal rounded up documents confirming that Texas Tech, hoping to avoid a more direct hit by preemptively punishing itself, self-imposed minor penalties — a reduction of a single scholarship in the incoming class, four fewer campus visits for prospective recruits over an entire recruiting period — in response to coaches on former head coach Mike Leach’s staff text-messaging prospects well after the NCAA passed a blanket texting ban in August 2007. The case remains open with the NCAA, which could still hand down a harsher sentence (almost anything short of a “puppy penalty” would be harsher), but Tech athletic director Gerald Meyers said the case had nothing to do with Leach’s sudden termination in December. [Lubbock Avalanche-Journal]
• Spartans will never surrender to exceedingly minor aesthetic change. A very long, rambling letter from Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis to Spartan fans last week amounts to this: MSU is keeping its old Spartan logo as part of a wider re-branding, thanks to public backlash against the meaner-looking replacement Nike had in store for the Spartan helmets next year. The redesigned uniforms will be scaled back to include only the Swoosh’s patented “rippling abs” stitching to complete the idealized Spartan motif. [Michigan State Athletics]
Quickly … If Oregon fulfills expectations as back-to-back Pac-10 champs next fall, Chip Kelly will be in line for a big raise. … LSU’s Trindon Holliday stole the show with 209 total yards and two touchdowns, but outgoing Tennessee quarterback and combine snub Jonathan Crompton may have helped his draft stock in Saturday’s Texas vs. The Nation All-Star game. (But when did Jonathan Crompton join the staff of The Nation?) … And I thought Forrest Gump was the Forrest Gump of football?