(Image source: Flickr/crownme)

BY NICK GERHARDT

ANCHOR JENNIFER MECKLES

Self Sacrifice and... a scapegoat--will they be enough to get Ohio State out of hot water?

The answer to that has far reaching implications--all the way to the west coast, where Oregon is mired in recruiting questions of their own.

The Buckeye football program willingly vacated all wins from its 2010 season. This - after a controversy that led to suspensions for Buckeye players, and cost former head coach Jim Tressel his job. (Video: ESPN).

ESPN’s Joe Schad reports, Ohio State’s symbolic move COULD appease the NCAA--IF they can pin all wrongs on the former head coach.

“Everything that Ohio State is saying is, this is not an institution-wide issue. This is not an Ohio State compliance issue.  It’s not an athletic director issue; it’s not a president issue--it’s a Jim Tressel issue. And Jim Tressel says in there, ‘I made a serious mistake, I did not live up to my responsibilities and duties.’”

USC lost 30 scholarships and two years of bowl eligibility because the university failed to prove they had no hand in the team’s illicit dealings--the kind of hand-washing Ohio State is trying to prove now.

Meanwhile -- Across the country, Oregon must now defend a 25 thousand dollar payment to scouting service owner Will Lyles.

“At the moment, from what Lyles is saying and what he’s alleging, it sounds a whole lot like Oregon just paid 25 thousand dollars to make sure that a couple of key players--LaMichael James and Lache Seastrunk, two top running backs--ended up going to Oregon, instead of the scouting service that they were supposedly paying for.”  (Fox Sports)

This one can’t be pinned on a head coach alone--there’s a university staffer involved. According to Yahoo, that staffer--Josh Gibson--emailed Lyles information leading to Lache Seastrunk changing his commitment.

“I think the NCAA is going to look at that and say, well okay, clearly there was intimate involvement between Will Lyles, a member of the Oregon staff in what ultimately resulted in a recruit signing at Oregon. And then it was after that when Oregon paid Lyles for a recruiting package. I think the NCAA’s going to say to Oregon, we’d like to know whether or not you thought it was a conflict of interest when it came to paying Will Lyles for a recruiting package.”

Oregon will try to avoid the “lack of institutional control” charge that led to such epic sanctions at Southern Cal. Whether or not Ohio State’s proactive moves will satisfy the NCAA will be resolved at a hearing in August.