Around the web: What people are saying about the Cam Newton scandal

Sporting News: Yes, Cecil Newton’s apparent actions and Auburn’s mysterious secrecy have helped hijack the college football season. They’ve laced the frenzied joy in this stadium Saturday with a tinge of sadness. That sadness could, and with each day seemingly will, overtake the joy down the road.  So stop the insanity, Auburn and Chizik and Cecil Newton. Start talking in public. The world, and especially one of your founding fathers, demands honesty and truthfulness. It’s required for folks to believe in you again.

Draft Board Insider: The bottom line on all this for me is, a lot of adults who knew better did some stuff they shouldn’t have.  The divide is where you think it’s Newton and his people or the people who are reporting it.  My gut tells me that even though this is a blatant headhunting attack by these universities and media, it’s based on the truth, and that trumps any personal agendas.  No matter how badly you want to discredit the University of Florida or Kenny Rogers, or whomever in the media has been reporting all this, if it turns out to be true, then nothing else is more important. 

Dennis Dodd, CBSSports.com: Get it out, Auburn. Get it all out now.  Party your behinds off. Burn the mother to the ground. T.P. the town if you want. Live 'til you Dye. War Cam Eagle and all that. Saturday might be all you have.

Tony Barnhart, CBSSports.com: No, the biggest obstacle the Tigers face in the next 13 days is the culture that is the SEC -- specifically, the state of Alabama. The subject of Newton's status and who might have broken rules will be pursued the way a dog gnaws on an old soup bone -- relentlessly. Despite the fact that we are now a week and a half into this story and there has yet to be any official allegation that Newton or Auburn broke any rules, there will be no relief from the toxic atmosphere that exists in this part of the world at this time of year.

Fresno Bee: (seriously) College football fans can only hope Auburn let Cameron Newton play Saturday because school officials truly believe he's eligible and not because they're full of chest-puffing defiance. Guess we'll find out.

Glenn Guilbeau: What happens if Auburn continues to win out and finishes in the top two of the final BCS standings on Dec. 5, and then quarterback Cam Newton is declared ineligible by the NCAA before the Jan. 10 BCS national championship game in Glendale, Ariz.?

Don Borst, FOX Sports: Just a short while ago, the Tigers were a gutsy, come-from-behind ballclub with a new-age college football superman whose coach was invoking favors from God on national TV, and they were positioning themselves to dethrone defending national champion Alabama. … And now, suddenly, at best they are the black hats, absorbing the arrows of jealous rivals. At worst, they are all that is wrong with college football.