NCAA decides to not investigate OSU despite SI allegations

This is the correct answer.  I'm pretty sure the article avoids mention of any players who might have fallen inside said statute.

Your picture is perfect for this comment. +1

That doesn't seem to be stopping them from investigating that agent-led party from last offseason.  I think the issue here is simply that the statute of limitations has expired.

The investigation wouldn't take place in a courtroom, and I'm sure past cases have been based on as much evidence there is about the Holmes case.  The real issue is statue of limitations for NCAA investigations is 4 years.

Except that OSU basketball has twice gotten nailed by the NCAA.  And that Maurice Clarett was permanently stripped of his eligibility (instead of the usual half-season suspension). 

Complaining about OSU somehow getting preferential treatment is very Little Brother of us. 

Herein lies the problem, as I see it; you can put a value on education and at most Big X schools, a four year education will run between 145-200K, depending on how you eat, living arrangements, etc. Your post is somewhat misleading also in the fact you state players are living in dorms and eating pizza.  Half of that is correct. They are staying in dorms, as are the majority of college students, who are paying for their education in some manner, with very real cash.  However, they are not afforded the luxury of training table meals which, believe me, are not limited to pizza.  They are perhaps the best rounded meals these young men have ever been exposed to.  We don't have hungry athletes on scholarship. 

There is a vast difference between values of education when you start to compare conferences, but this is part of  the selection process of the young men when they begin deciding which school they wish to commit to. Some place the education at the top; others do not.  In a few instances, such as when Fulmer was at TN, we learned that education or the value thereof played no role whatsoever, as it was made clear by 60 Minutes investigators who are far superior to their NCAA counterparts, that players were not forced to partake of the educational offerings afforded them with their scholarship, and they could either have regular students take exams for them, or if they so chose, blow off attendance completely by failing to even make the effort to have a surrogate set in their chair and answer present as attendance was being taken. 

Two things that do not differentiate among conferences, however, is television exposure for these young men, both to the nation at large, but also to NFL scouts, who based on initials viewing from games, follow up with intense film study.  And the second benefit that is a constant among all D1 players, they are being trained for the next level of competition as part of their agreement with their school(s) of choice.  These two aspects are of immeasurable value. 

The one possibility  I fear above all others if an agreed upon stipend were allowed is that some players, probably the ones accepting "under the table" payments in the current structure, would consider the stipend not equal to their value added to the program and take larger amounts, no matter how much were offered. 

If there is one thing we've learned from government assistance to the impoverished it's that no matter how honorable the intent of assistance, there are those that will find loopholes in the system and when they do, they'll exploit them to their fullest advantage. These people exist in all facets of our social structure, and even though they realize the intent of gov't assistance is to provide an equal percentage based on need, they really suffer no remorse for finding pathways that allow them a larger share of the pie than they're entitled to. 

These same type of people exist in the numbers recruited to schools each year, and just like those described above, they will not stop with the stipend, and when a loophole exists or even a recognized NCAA infraction, with a possibility of penalty less than imprisonment, and more than likely to be levied against the school they leave,rather than themselves, they'll ultimately decide it's worth  the risk.

Recognizing the above is true and will remain that way, I suggest doing nothing other than offering the education and pray they take advantage. We simply cannot trust agents or the NFL to protect college players and thereby the colleges themselves with the institution of the enforceable rules that would actually prevent the majority from even considering such action. They simply receive too many advantages under the current structure that prohibits them from implementing such incongruous financial decisions.