Sunflower Slate

This just in off the AP wire. Just got back from a press conference at Friends, so check tomorrow’s edition of the Eagle to get reaction from the Falcons. Friends will finish season 11-0 and Carroll College gets a bye into the quarterfinals. If this had happened 24 hours earlier, Friends probably would have made the trek to Helena, Mont., to take on the five-time national champs … but the NAIA decided it was too much packed into too little of a timespan;

Here’s the AP story, followed by the full statement from the NAIA:

ALVA, Okla. (AP) — North-western Oklahoma State will not play its scheduled NAIA quarterfinal game at defend-ing national champion Carroll College on Saturday after dis-covering that three players were academically ineligible.
Northwestern will forfeit its regular-season games against Bacone and Texas College as well as a postsea-son game against Friends (Kan.) University because the players competed in those games while ineligible.
The school said the uni-dentified players dropped classes during the fall semes-ter that reduced their course load below 12 hours, which is not allowed by the NAIA.
“Our university commu-nity is saddened and embar-rassed by the actions we were forced to take today, but we will never compromise the in-tegrity of this university,” uni-versity president Janet Cun-ningham said in a statement.
“Everyone at Northwestern is accountable for ensuring that we follow NAIA rules and institutional policy to the let-ter.”
Cunningham apologized to the opposing schools in-volved in the forfeited games, especially Friends, and said a task force would be formed to look into eligibility issues in the athletic department and prevent further compliance problems.
“I also feel for our players and coaches who will not be allowed to continue their sea-son. They have worked very hard to get to this point but I am confident they understand that we are doing the right thing,” Cunningham said.
The NAIA planned to re-lease details later Tuesday on how the playoffs would be af-fected. Carroll, which has won five of the last six NAIA titles, has a 27-game winning streak and is the top-ranked team in the playoffs.
Northwestern Oklahoma State won its only national ti-tle in 1999 and also lost to Carroll in the 2003 title game.
The NAIA planned to have its National Eligibility Com-mittee review a report from Northwestern Oklahoma State and determine whether any additional sanctions are nec-essary.
“It is our understanding that earlier today Northwest-ern Oklahoma’s internal moni-toring system detected a vio-lation of NAIA rules and once learning of the violation the administration immediately contacted NAIA officials,” NAIA president Jim Carr said in a statement.
“I know this is a difficult time for the administration, coaches and players but would like to recognize the in-tegrity of the university’s ad-ministration for taking re-sponsibility to do what was right.”

“It is our understanding that earlier today Northwestern Oklahoma’s internal monitor-ing system detected a viola-tion of NAIA rules and once learning of the violation the administration immediately contacted NAIA officials,” said Jim Carr, NAIA President and CEO. “I know this is a difficult time for the administration, coaches and players but would like to recognize the in-tegrity of the university’s ad-ministration for taking re-sponsibility to do what was right. The NAIA and the Na-tional Eligibility Committee will work with Northwestern Oklahoma officials to ensure all proper safeguards are in place for future competition.”