Is it possible for USC to get out of their sanctions?

On the O-zone board someone saw another blog that was discussing the NCAA sanctions on USC.  There were a lot of them but mainly it came down to a reduction of scholarships by 10 and a 2 year ban on postseason.  This post season ban allows any player junior or senior to transfer without penalty and is making some of the incoming freshman rethink their commitment (see Signing Day Blues for a related discussion).  So one of the posters asked the following question:

I came across a long discussion on a USC board (link below), about the eventual outcome of the NCAA sanctions.  This particular thread seems quite optimistic about them being cut back dramatically.

This got me to thinking about the whole process and how infuriated I got at how USC handled the process.  I realized my real anger before the sanction announcement wasn't at USC but at Andy Geiger.

I always questioned Geiger decisions during the Clarett, Boban, and O'Brien scandals.  He seemed to go a lot further than any other school would have when self reporting and self penalizing Ohio State.  I always imagined the conversations going something like:

Geiger: We are going to take away 2 scholarships for the next two years.
NCAA: Are you sure??  We really think 1 is fair.
Geiger: I insist!
NCAA: If you are sure.... ok.

I'm over dramatizing but Geiger really went out of his way not only to report every item no matter how small but to penalize teams and coaches after our initial troubles.  This added to our reputation as a program out of control but it changed the culture at Ohio State (I didn't think we were that bad before hand but every fan thinks that).

Compare that with USC.  Do they self report?  Do they self penalize?  Nope.  Not a word came from them on the big stuff let alone the small stuff.  When it was obvious that problems were occurring a few years ago Garrett did nothing but sit back, say we did nothing wrong, and wait for the NCAA to get back to them.  In fact when sanctions were about to come down and Pete Carroll heads for the exit they could have made a statement by hiring a coach with a well known reputation for strict adherence to the rules.  What did they do?  Hire Lane Kiffin who was around when many of the issues occurred and who had already run afoul of the NCAA a few times in his short stay at Tennessee.  Then Kiffin proceeded to sneak out of Knoxville but not before doing some further shady dealings with the players he had recruited to Tennessee.  All of this just added fuel to the fire and if the NCAA didn't come down hard on USC they would have lost a lot of respect from its other member institutions.  They really had no choice and USC is lucky they didn't get the death penalty (if they were San Diego State it might have happened).  The blame for this is squarely on Garrett but the president and board are also at fault and if I was a USC alumni I'd hold them accountable.  They let Garrett do nothing when a few steps of damage control would have certainly avoided this mess.  Now it is too late and they have to live with the consequences.  I can see no way that the NCAA will ever change the sanctions and USC is tempting fate if they appeal.  (Interesting link - NCAA message with USC)

I applaud the NCAA because they've sent a clear message to everyone that you can't break the rules.  This action vindicates every action Andy Geiger ever took to clean up the Buckeye mess and even though he will never see this I will say it anyway ... "You were right, Andy".