Cam Newton starts against Georgia, and Auburn rolls the NCAA dice

The weekend's biggest mystery has been answered: Embattled quarterback Cam Newton showed up as usual to Jordan-Hare Stadium, warmed up with the team and was announced in pregame warmups as Auburn's starting quarterback against Georgia. Either the Tigers are absolutely certain that their star quarterback's eligibility isn't in jeopardy, or they're going to let it ride in pursuit of the SEC and BCS championships, anyway, and deal with the consequences later.

The university certainly didn't seem confident on Friday, when it changed its official position from "Cameron Newton will be playing Saturday against the Georgia Bulldogs" to "No comment." That backpedal came less than 24 hours after ESPN produced two on-the-record sources accusing Newton's father, Cecil, of soliciting money from Mississippi State coaches and boosters in exchange for his son's signature during Cam's recruitment out of junior college last year. Two anonymous sources from Miss. State told ESPN the same story earlier in the week.

If true, the allegations are clear NCAA violations by the elder Newton that would render his son ineligible at any school, even if he didn't have any knowledge he was being shopped. Two of the five sources for the charges have confirmed meetings with NCAA investigators (as well as, in one case, the FBI), with a third likely to give an interview next week. The NCAA reportedly met with Cam Newton and both parents on Thursday, and may have already informed Auburn of potential violations on Friday.

But the decision to play Newton remains with the school: The NCAA won't rule until the conclusion of its investigation, which isn't likely to come until well after the BCS Championship Game. By putting him on the field, Auburn is risking everything on Newton either coming out clean when the smoke clears in the offseason, or on no one really caring as long as the Tigers win the games.

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Source: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Cam-Newton-starts-against-Georgia-and-Auburn-ro?urn=ncaaf-285269

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