As surely everyone reading this blog knows by now, Cam Newton (and Auburn along with him) is potentially in quite a bit of hot water as various allegations begin to emerge regarding his recruitment, academic standing at Florida, status of unreturned library books from the 2nd grade, etc, etc.
Frankly, the whole thing is beginning to have the unpleasant feel of a Presidential politics-style character assassination (has anyone seen his birth certificate????), and news has been flying so fast and furious that we haven't attempted to cover it here...there are plenty of better outlets around for that sort of thing should you need updates.
Normally I would simply follow a story like this with a sense of bemused fascination, but it occurred to me today that all this could result in the Razorbacks being screwed by Newton not once, but twice in a single season. And that, dear readers, is not cool. Let's break it down:
1. As you may recall (I've tried to forget it myself), Newton pretty much single-handedly demolished the Hogs last month. I'm not prepared to say the allegations against him are or aren't true, but if they are, then he shouldn't have been on the field for that game in the first place. Without Newton's otherwordly talents, it's a very safe bet to say that we would have won that game and would be sitting in the top 10 at 8-1 right now.
2. Even despite the potential shenanigans from point #1, the Razorbacks are potentially in position to play their way into a BCS bowl if both they and Auburn win out. Should Auburn fall at any point before the national title game, our path to a BCS bowl becomes pretty much an impossibility. But, as the allegations begin to mount, the chances of Newton being suspended or declared ineligible increase...there was a rumor flying around Twitter this morning that a suspension is imminent (as in, any minute now that has since been discredited). If that happens, the Tigers have basically no hope of getting through their final three game unscathed and you can kiss your Arkansas-in-a-BCS-bowl dreams goodbye.
So there you have it...we could get screwed twice by all this. Isn't that just a classic Arkansas situation to wind up in? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section