Could USC land itself in trouble with the NCAA for the $300,000 in benefits Reggie Bush allegedly received? Heinz Kluetmeier/SI
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Regarding the Bush/USC fiasco, as you pointed out in your recent article, the NCAA does not have the ability to force anyone to testify. But neither must they guarantee air-tight due process to USC. I believe they could slap USC for failure to exercise institutional control. And why will no one comment on USC's failure to exercise proper ethics? Did they conduct their own internal investigation?
--Rob, Milwaukee

Actually, the NCAA does guarantee due process, or something like it. The reason Rick Neuheisel was able to successfully sue the organization and collect a $3 million-plus settlement is because in their rush to nail the guy (for the infamous tourney pool) the investigators failed to comply by several of their own procedural rules. This is another reason why the NCAA's enforcement division is even more gun-shy than it already was.

As for your other questions, I don't know what the NCAA will find, but I'm sure in their interviews with Pete Carroll, running backs coach Todd McNair and others within the program some of their first questions were, when did you first learn Bush was associating with these dirty agents and, in turn, what kind of follow-up, if any, did you do to make sure everything was kosher?

Stewart, it seems the problem in the Bush/USC investigation is that the NCAA can make USC give them what they have (they have nothing, either by choice or by circumstance), but they can't make Bush or his people talk. This sounds like a huge loophole. Perhaps they need to have language added to the letter of intent stating that if they accept the scholarship, they agree to abide by NCAA rules, and if they fail to do so, both the NCAA and the university have the right to seek return of their scholarship and the recovery of amounts received in violation of the NCAA rules. Then if Bush refused to cooperate, the NCAA would have legal standing to file suit and could issue subpoenas, etc. to get the information.
--Mike, Dallas

That's actually one of the smartest ideas I've heard of in a long time. However, I'm sure the lawyers in our audience would be able to point out any number of reasons why this would not fly. For instance, while it seems pretty cut and dry in Bush's case, what do you do with a kid who unknowingly broke some obscure NCAA rule? And what if the kid is not Reggie Bush but a backup tackle that has no pro future whatsoever and therefore can't afford to pay back his scholarship cost? But I do agree with the need for more stringent accountability by players.

Stewart, what can we, the fans of college football, do to urge the NCAA to apply its rules fairly and evenly, instead of the way they enforce them now like punishing Oklahoma but not USC? I can't vote for new leadership in the NCAA, and there is no product I can boycott.
--Chris, Newton, Mass.

Correct. One of the luxuries of working for the NCAA is that you are almost completely insulated from the consumers themselves. You work for the institutions, who in turn deal with the consumers. Ironically, the only discernible way I could think of to signal your outrage over this completely football-related matter is to stop watching and attending the NCAA basketball tournament -- and that's where they get you.

Thanks for cutting Chan Gailey a break this year. I assure you, he is not that bad of a coach and he is finally on the verge of making Georgia Tech a 10 game-a-year-winner.
--Corndog, Norfolk, Va.

Corndog: Just out of curiosity, do you also believe John Stamos is on the verge of becoming an annual Emmy contender?

For the first time in my life, myself and 11 of my friends are starting a college fantasy football league. We will only choose from teams in the SEC, ACC and either the Big Ten/Pac-10/Big 12. Traditional scoring as with most NFL fantasy leagues will be the rule. That being said, if you had the first pick in our draft, who do you go with?
--Jim, Gainesville, Ga.

I know fantasy football scoring tends to put greater importance on running backs, but I would still draft Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell for the inevitable, PlayStation numbers he will put up. (And I think it goes without saying that anyone fortunate enough to have the No. 1 pick in an all-Division I-A league should not waste two seconds before selecting Hawaii's Colt Brennan). If you do the math and decide a running back is still your best option, then choose either Ray Rice or Mike Hart (because they're more traditional work-horses than McFadden or Steve Slaton).

How do you think the best SEC team would fare playing an out-of-conference team on the road in November? If Oregon State and Washington State can play LSU and Auburn in the sultry heat of the south in September, shouldn't they return the favor and play in the bone-chilling rain/fog in November?
--Kirk, San Francisco

I'm sure the SEC teams would tell you their conference schedule is already so outrageously tougher than everyone else's that they couldn't possibly add another road game because it would both take away from their much-needed homecoming breather against Louisiana-Lafayette and because of the highly likely possibility that the bigoted, hippie West Coast refs would find a way to screw them over. But I agree, it would certainly be interesting to see not only an SEC team, but any southern team, play a late-season game somewhere like that. (For all the complaints about USC's "soft" Pac-10 schedule, no one bothers to consider that to get to the title game in 2004 the Trojans had to win a late-season game in Corvallis, Ore., where the fog was so thick the announcers could barely tell what was going on.)

Considering the fact that Northwestern won the Big Ten title in 1995 and Wake Forest won the ACC championship last season, what are the chances of Vanderbilt winning at least the SEC East this year?
--Donnie Jones, Wartburg, Tenn.

I've already gone on record saying Vandy is good enough to go to a bowl game this season, but a division title is a tall order in today's SEC. My college friends will almost certainly disown me for saying this, but Northwestern was fortunate in the years it won the Big Ten title in the mid-'90s because it did not have to face a pair of top-five Ohio State teams. And, with all due respect to the Demon Deacons, last year's ACC was horrendous. I could see Vandy knocking off a Tennessee or Georgia (it's done so each of the past two years), but to win the East would likely require beating at least four of its five divisional foes -- all of whom went to bowl games last year -- and either, or both, Alabama and Auburn.

I know Nebraska isn't the powerhouse it once was, but the lack of any positive words or respect is getting a little old. The program is getting better and is taking on some serious competition. Can't anyone give us a break?
--Jon, Omaha, Neb.

Indeed -- poor, poor Nebraska. May the nation's football fans weep for you.