Why Cecil Newton's Appearance at the BCS Championship Matters.

Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs told the press that Cecil Newton would not be at the BCS national championship game. Why did Jacobs do this? We have to assume that it was to try to win some sort of public relations points. Certainly Auburn didn't want the cameras finding Cecil in the stands after every other play. Making the in-game commentary revolve around scandal instead of the play on the field. Jacobs however, should have made sure he was correct before making this statement. Cecil Newton was at the game. We know his lawyer issued a statement saying he was just there at the end of the game, but we all know that is simply not true. Follow this link to Sports by Brooks and you can see video of him coming DOWN out of the stands to the field.

But why does it matter that he went to the game? The truth is, it doesn't. Actually the better phrase would be it WOULDN'T have mattered. What matters is that one of two scenarios obviously played out.

The first is that Jacobs knew he would be there, and simply lied to the press. This would not be terribly shocking. Jacobs will, of course, never admit this. He will say that he was "misinformed." Coaches and Athletic Directors lie to the press all the time. This is nothing new. They used to be able to mostly get away with it. But now with the internet and a million bloggers like ourselves looking at every little comment, they just can't. So they try to make ambiguous statements and not get backed into a corner. If they do get caught they usually go with the "misinformed" or "that's what we thought at the time" lines. This scenario would go to show a bit of the character of the Auburn program. But, we think that has been well established already. They are the new Miami and we all know that.

The second scenario is that Jacobs really did think that Cecil would not be at the game. This is by far the scarier scenario for Auburn. If Cecil lied to Jacobs about whether he would be attending the game, that is worrying. It shows a lack of concern for Auburn by Cecil. This is the man who shopped his son to play football. With his son headed to the NFL, if he was approached with an offer from TMZ would he turn it down? Or would he sell out Auburn on the whole deal to make another 100 grand? This is the fine line Auburn is walking. They must publicly condemn Cecil for what happened; so that they can remain clean in the eyes of the public. But, they also can not afford to alienate him. Could this be the first signs of cracks in the relationship between Auburn and the Newtons?

Cam Newton has not declared for the NFL yet. He could come back to Auburn next year. The deadline for declaring is Saturday at midnight. But, we would be shocked if he didn't head to the pros. It is a strange thought that the best thing for Auburn might be if their AD lied to the press.

Breaking update: Cam did declare for the NFL draft.  Knock us over with a feather.



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