Originally Posted by
baseballplyrmvp
it could be as simple as an honest mistake, that the student manager, thought the balls felt over-inflated, and decided to deflate them slightly, thereby doing his job. he might not have known that they were already approved for game use. according to ncaa rules, the footballs have to be between 12.5 and 13.5 psi. if the balls he deflated were at 12.3 or 12.2 (just missing the mark) it could very easily have been an honest mistake on his part. you may think its unlikely, but its very possible. additionally, the student manager was apparently seen deflating the balls in front of the oregon sideline before the game. oregon asked the refs to check it and the balls were deemed to be bad. honestly, if the intention to cheat was there, why would he do it in front of the oregon sideline? why not hide it?
i, for one, think its retarded to think that LK had anything to do with this, especially when you factor in that a deflated ball would hurt the kicking and punting game. the deflated balls wouldnt travel as far on the kickoffs or punts, and when oregon has de'anthony thomas back there, i dont think LK would have sacrificed a more catchable ball for his receivers at the expense of thomas running one back on him. USC's passing game has been great all year long.....why would LK suddenly order the balls to be under-inflated for the oregon game, when we havent needed to use deflated footballs at any point this year?
look at things with some common sense snoop. all the stories match there. the student manager said he acted alone, LK said no one on staff or any of his players knew about it. with pat haden being on the committee that just approved the new coaching penalties, if he found out that LK had a part in this, haden would have no problem firing LK and getting a head coach in there of his choosing. the kid was fired, not to cover USC's ass, but his actions resulted in the school being fined and reprimanded by the pac12.