Kragthorpe: BYU gives Unga no credit for yardage gained

A snip from the article:

For those who wondered about the value of 3,455 yards of prime real estate in Provo, the answer came Wednesday.



On the upper campus of BYU, in buildings overlooking the nice athletic facilities, all that yardage gained is meaningless -- and admirably so.



That's the lesson of the administration's ruling that denied Cougars running back Harvey Unga readmission to school until January, effectively costing him his senior season of football.



That's refreshing, in a lot of ways. There's obviously no double standard in play at BYU, no allowance for talent overcoming Honor Code violations. If the Cougars' all-time leading rusher can withdraw from the school, show remorse and yet not be allowed back in on his desired timetable, nobody's exempt.



Apparently, the code is more than just a series of behavioral suggestions.



In its own way, Unga's departure from the program underscores the fact that BYU is playing by different rules than everybody else in college football -- other than maybe Air Force and the other service academies -- and is still managing to win a bunch of games.

Why do people think that BYU should treat Unga differently from how they treat the average Joe?

First, link: http://www.sltrib.com/D=g/ci_15120615



Second, I read the article differently. I read it as praising the fact that BYU stuck to their guns and didn't extend special treatment on the basis of his performance. Notably the part where he said "all that yardage gained is meaningless -- and admirably so." as well as the later references to how impressive it is that BYU is having the success they are considering this more stringent rules they have to play by.

snoscythe wrote:
First, link: http://www.sltrib.com/D=g/ci_15120615



Second, I read the article differently. I read it as praising the fact that BYU stuck to their guns and didn't extend special treatment on the basis of his performance. Notably the part where he said "all that yardage gained is meaningless -- and admirably so." as well as the later references to how impressive it is that BYU is having the success they are considering this more stringent rules they have to play by.

I would maybe have to somewhat agree with you on that.