Jackson Free Press

Scandals are nothing new in college sports, especially in football. It wouldn’t be shocking if every school in the country engaged in some sort of rule violation.

Schools in the Power Five conferences—ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac 12 and SEC—are going to garner most of the spotlight for those violations. But in reality, not every scandal is equal.

Sure, it is a scandal if a kid asks for money to pay his mom’s rent and utility bills. That story will have legs and be discussed at length by the media, but besides the NCAA, do we really care that much that a kid got money while in college?

To the rival school, it means something, but in the grand scheme of things, it really isn’t that major.

The major story in college athletics is the way coaches, administrators and even school presidents turn a blind eye to sexual assaults.

The recent scandal at Baylor isn’t anything new. It just highlights, again, how schools try to sweep sexual assaults under the rug.

Right now the U.S. Department of Education is investigating 161 institutions for their handling of sexual-assault investigations. Baylor currently isn’t on that list, but you should expect that to change at some point.

It also makes one question if winning on the field is more important than the safety of women on campus.

ESPN has investigated and documented the Baylor scandal in great detail. Baylor looked the other way over sexual assaults from at least 2009 to 2015.

At the same time, the Bears were starting to turn things around on the field. In late 2007 Baylor hired Art Briles away from the University of Houston.

Baylor went 8-16 from 2008 to 2009 on the field but finished with a winning record of 7-6 in 2010. It was the first winning season for the Bears since 1995, and the team went to its first bowl game since 1994.

The Bears were the "feel good" story of college football during the 2011 season, as the team tied a then-school record for wins with 10, won a bowl game for the first time since 1992 and finished the season ranked for the first time since 1986.

Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III became the first player from the university to win the Heisman Trophy.

To the outside world, this was one of the great turnaround stories in college football history.

Off the field was another story for Baylor.

The university failed to investigate sexual assault cases for two years from 2013 to 2015, a violation of Title IX federal law. Baylor didn’t even hire a full-time Title IX coordinator to comply with a federal directive until late 2014.

One glaring case involved two players, Tre’von Armstead and Myke Chatman, who were named in a Waco police department report involving sexual assault in April 2013. The university knew of the report, but …

Anytime there is a new ESPN “30 for 30” documentary, it is normally worth taking time to watch. But the latest entry, a five-part, almost-eight-hour-long series called “O.J.: Made In America” from director Ezra Edelman, might be the best documentary the network has done. If you haven’t watched “O.J.: Made In America,” don’t read any further, as this post contains spoilers.

Even 22 years after the murders of Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ron Goldman, this case still lives in infamy. The O.J. Simpson murder trial also brought up issues that we continue to struggle with as a society today, such as race and domestic violence.

Race and racism are where Edelman begins in parts one and two. He does a great job of showing the treatment of black people in Los Angeles as Simpson began his journey to fame on the gridiron and the Rodney King beating and trial spurred riots on the streets.

This look back at the rise and fall of Simpson provides some interesting tidbits in all five parts.

Simpson’s friend Joe Bell says the now infamous football player’s father was gay and tells how Simpson stole best friend Al Cowlings’ girlfriend, Marguerite Whitley. Simpson later married Whitley at age 19, and as the two stayed friends, Cowlings later drove the white bronco in the famous slow-speed chase.

Most of us at a certain age remember Simpson as the bumbling Nordberg from “The Naked Gun” film series, but in parts one and two of the documentary, you see the moves on the football field that made Simpson a Heisman Trophy winner and NFL Hall of Fame player.

One of the most interesting things in part one is that Simpson wanted nothing to do with the Civil Rights Movement. At one point, he told activist Harry Edwards, when approached about boycotting the 1968 Olympics, “I’m not black; I’m O.J.”

The documentary’s first episode touches on Simpson’s early struggles in Buffalo, as well as his first meeting with an 18-year-old Nicole, who was working at private L.A. nightclub The Daisy, and telling a friend that he would marry her.

The former NFL running back began dating Nicole while still married to Whitley.

Part two devotes some time to Simpson’s cheating on the golf course and his daughter drowning, but mainly, the focus is on his treatment of women. The documentary shows him as a womanizer and delves into how he mentally abused a pregnant Nicole by telling her his affairs were a result of her getting “fat.”

Domestic violence plays a major part in the second episode, as Simpson gets away with abuse because of his charm and celebrity. Even ESPN had a hand in the way the public viewed him.

In an ESPN show called “Sports Look,”host Roy Firestone makes excuses for Simpson’s 1988 attack on Nicole, who needed medical treatment as a result. Firestone was just one of the many people who made excuses for Simpson’s domestic violence. After one …

If you aren’t suffering from college-football bowl fatigue, you can still watch plenty of games. The quality of football might be questionable at times, but drink it all in because when it is gone, it will be gone until next fall.

Since so many games are coming up, here is a brief schedule from Monday, Dec. 26, to Wednesday, Dec. 28.

The first game to feast on is the St. Petersburg Bowl, which kicks off at 10 a.m. on ESPN. Check out my recent preview of the game between Mississippi State University and Miami University in Ohio.

After the St. Petersburg Bowl, check out the Quick Lane Bowl at 1:30 p.m. on ESPN. This game is the first to feature teams from Power Five conferences.

Boston College and the University of Maryland enter the game with identical 6-6 records. The Eagles and Terrapins were once conference foes in the ACC, but Maryland is now a member of the Big Ten.

The final game on Dec. 26 is the Independence Bowl at 4 p.m. on ESPN2 between North Carolina State University and Vanderbilt University. This is an ACC against SEC matchup with two more 6-6 teams.

In fact, no team that plays on Dec. 26 enters the game with a winning record, and Mississippi State has a losing record. Both the Wolfpack and Commodores beat in-state rivals, which made them become bowl eligible.

College football on Dec. 27 begins with the Heart of Dallas Bowl between the United States Military Academy and the University of North Texas at 11 a.m. on ESPN. No one will say this is the sexiest bowl matchup of the season.

The Army is playing in a bowl game for the first time since 2010 and just the second time since 1997. That should lead to a highly motivated Black Knights squad.

North Texas beat the Army earlier this season at 35-18 but enters this game with a 5-7 record. The Army comes into this bowl game with a 7-5 record, which makes it the first team with a winning record to play this week.

Continue watching bowl games with the Military Bowl at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN. The game features Wake Forest University battling Temple University and may focus more on off-the-field issues than action on the field.

Wake Forest just fired Tommy Elrod, who was the color analyst on the team’s radio broadcast. Elrod was giving the Demon Deacons’ game play to opposing teams, and he was a former player and coach at the university.

Temple, on the other hand, just lost head coach Matt Rhule, who is taking over the dumpster fire that is Baylor University football. The Owls shocked the Navy to win the AAC Championship Game, but with their coach bolting, are they mentally going to be in this game?

Two normally cold-weather teams clash in the Holiday Bowl from San Diego at 6 p.m. on ESPN. Washington State …