There's now an obvious reason Ole Miss decided to release information about the NCAA's latest notice of allegations on its own terms through a YouTube filter earlier this year.
The truth hurts. That would be the entire unvarnished (NCAA's version of the) truth contained in the 30-page amended notice of allegations released by the school on Tuesday.
What Ole Miss attempted to antiseptically gloss over in February in its own videotaped spin is worse than anyone thought.
Now we know why Ole Miss lawyers summarily denied the media's Freedom of Information Act requests for the amended notice. It wanted to control the message for as long as possible.
Well, here's another notice for Ole Miss: Time's up.
Test score fraud? Ten former or current staffers -- including head man Hugh Freeze -- called out by name amidst 21 sordid allegations that could end up chopping Ole Miss football off at the knees? Boosters run amok with checkbooks a-blazin'?
Yup, it's all in there and more. There were eight new allegations added to the 13 original sins released in 2016. To be fair, Ole Miss makes some compelling arguments in defense of Freeze and its compliance procedures. But we already knew the school was going all in on its current coach.
What we didn't know is that the NCAA would fight back with some interesting language of its own. It cited Freeze for violation of head coach responsibility legislation in 11 of the 21 total allegations.
Never mind what we already know: Because of those allegations, Freeze could be the first FBS coach suspended for all or part of a season resulting from a new rule that is less than four years old.
The NCAA added Freeze could also be slapped with a show-cause order, which could follow him beyond employment at Ole Miss. A show-cause is the NCAA's version of a Scarlet Letter that potentially makes any coach unhireable.
(Chip Kelly was given at 18-month show-cause for violations at Oregon after he had already bolted for the NFL. Former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel was given a five-year show-cause after he was fired for lying to the NCAA. He has not coached since.)
After reading the amended notice, Ole Miss and the Freeze administration had better structurally reinforce the program.
That's another way of saying it was bad -- really bad.
Former football operations director David Saunders and former assistant coach Chris Vaughn are accused of arranging "fraudulent exam scores" for three recruits. The NCAA goes into some detail on this, reminding Ole Miss the players "practiced, competed and received athletically-related financial aid" while ineligible for the 2010 season. That was while Houston Nutt was coach.
One player was alleged to have competed while ineligible for the 2011, 2012 and 2013 seasons as well. Based on previous history, all of that adds up to a substantial vacation of wins. The initial list of allegations included cash payments from boosters -- more than $15,000 in cash and extra benefits overall -- and reports of a "bag man" delivering money to potential recruits.
The unseemly details have a Derrick Rose smell to them. Remember, Rose was John Calipari's star guard at Memphis who the NCAA determined had someone else take his SAT entrance exam. Rose was ruled academically ineligible after the fact, invalidating Memphis' 38-win Final Four season in 2008.
If proven, the Ole Miss wrongdoing validates the NCAA's overall allegation of lack of institutional control and failure to monitor. Those are two huge NCAA no-nos. The association spells them out in assertion after assertion saying Ole Miss, "seriously undermined or threatened the integrity of the NCAA Collegiate Model."
Boil it down and Ole Miss wants to avoid two things -- a further postseason ban and additional scholarship cuts. The school has self-imposed a one-year bowl ban this season, along with the postseason revenue that goes with it, and docked itself 11 scholarships over four years.
Yes, the Rebels gets brownie points for being proactive. It reminds the NCAA of that in their response. But Tuesday's disturbing details can't exactly raise hopes in Oxford, Mississippi.
As usual, any NCAA investigative speculation comes with this disclaimer: In any NCAA case, there is what we know, what we think we know and what can be proven behind closed doors in a Committee on Infractions hearing. And frankly, Ole Miss has one of the best troubleshooting attorneys in the business representing it, Mike Glazier.
Both Vaughn and Saunders have denied the ACT exam allegations. Ole Miss contends the violations occurred "well before the current administration arrived" at the school.
Ole Miss also argues against the ACT fraud allegation saying the ACT folks themselves validated the test results themselves with letters to the school.
But as with everything SEC, this case revolves around recruiting. Was Ole Miss too aggressive at it? How can the program recruit if Freeze is suspended? Will the school stand behind their man if he is suspended?
The answers could come during the season based on the existing timeline. That adds to the titillating nature of a case that won't go away.
The truth revealed Tuesday might hurt, but you know what's worse? Being irrelevant in the SEC West.
Stay tuned to YouTube or whatever delivery system Ole Miss chooses to fight this through going forward.