Petrino irked by eligible OSU players

DESTIN, Fla., -- Bobby Petrino didn’t hold back when discussing the wrongdoings that went on at Ohio State.

Remember, Arkansas played and lost to Jim Tressel and his Buckeyes 31-26 in the Allstate Sugar Bowl last season. OSU did so with six players -- including quarterback Terrelle Pryor and wide receiver DeVier Posey -- who were found to have received cash or discounted tattoos for selling OSU memorabilia. However, the NCAA permitted all six to play in the bowl game.

Their suspensions begin with the first game this fall.

How did all that sit with Petrino? Not so well.

“There’s no question that I don’t understand how they were eligible to play in the game,” Petrino said during the annual SEC spring meetings in Destin, Fla., Tuesday. “I just don’t, and I never will.”

Petrino recalled a time when he was the head coach at Louisville and two of his players were suspended after spending more than their allotted per deim on food after being stranded following media days. Their punishments were dealt with immediately, while the OSU players had theirs postponed.

“They [the NCAA] kind of changed the rules for that bowl game,” Petrino said.

While Petrino was irked by the NCAA’s decisions to allow those Buckeyes to play, he was fine with getting OSU’s best shot in that game.

‘We wanted to play their best players,” he said. “When you have a year like we had and you’re able to win six games down the stretch and get to a BCS bowl game you want to play their best players. That’s what you want to do.”

Petrino wasn’t surprised by Tressel’s Monday resignation, and while he’s miffed at the NCAA about last season, he does have some sympathy for the man.

“When something like that happens you never like to see it,” he said. “I feel for him, his family. It affects a lot of other people in the state and the university, so you feel for all those people.”

Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/42650/petrino-irked-by-eligible-osu-players

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