The University of Southern California released a fairly under the radar statement late Wednesday night which has some people scratching their heads. The Trojans have been fined by the NCAA for deflating footballs below regulation level during the first half of their game against Oregon, and as a result they have laid off the student manager who allegedly was the culprit.
Here is the statement from USC:
A USC football student manager has been relieved of all duties with the Trojan football team for intentionally deflating, below NCAA-regulated levels, some game footballs used by USC’s team during the first half in last Saturday’s game against Oregon.
Game officials discovered and re-inflated three of the balls before the game and two others at halftime. All balls were regulation in the second half.
When informed of this allegation by the Pac-12, USC investigated it immediately. The student manager confirmed that he had, without the knowledge of, or instruction from, any USC student-athlete, coach, staff member or administrator, deflated those game balls after they had been tested and approved by officials prior to the game.
As a result, the Pac-12 reprimanded USC and imposed a fine.
I am still not 100% sure what prompted the deflating of the footballs or how it would just benefit USC, but I am assuming it was all the Trojans could think of to slow down the Ducks offense.
