The defeated Tide was washed out of LSU last weekend and left fans hopeless at the prospect of keeping Auburn out of the SEC championship.

Then came two days of terrible news for what was formerly called the Alabama Polytechnic Institute.

First, on Monday, it was reported that Auburn quarterback Cam Newton, who has led the team to second place in the BCS standings and is a contender for the Heisman Trophy, faced three allegations of academic dishonesty and the threat of expulsion from the University of Florida when he transferred to a Texas junior college in spring 2009. Before he transferred, Newton was also arrested for possessing a stolen laptop. According to official police reports, he threw the laptop out of the window of his dorm room to conceal it from police.

As indicative as that report was of the integrity of the Auburn football program, the most significant news emerged Tuesday when ESPN.com reported two recruiters for Mississippi State claimed Newton sought money when he was being recruited to the school last year. This added credibility to former MSU quarterback John Bond’s earlier revelation that someone purportedly representing the Newton family sought money from the school during his recruitment.

I must admit, I was about as surprised to hear a football recruit was soliciting money as I was to hear a college student faced allegations of cheating. It is common knowledge that a lot of football recruits solicit funds. It is also common knowledge that, unfortunately, a lot of college students cheat.

What is surprising about Cam Newton, though, is that he has been accused of doing both, and in the process he has somehow inspired a cult-like following among Auburn fans resolute in defending his every move.

Now, I can understand Auburn fans may be slightly defensive of their star quarterback. Maybe he did not really ask for money when he was being recruited, and the entire ordeal is a misunderstanding.

Maybe he really didn’t cheat in school, although getting caught on accident three times would be an impressive feat.

Maybe he didn’t steal the laptop, and just threw it out the window to test its resilience.

However, considering the number of allegations that have been leveled against Cam Newton, it is not a stretch to assume a few of them could be true.

Auburn people, though, insist their magical, god-sent, one-man offensive juggernaut is a reincarnated Bo Jackson, overflowing with character and leadership ability. They stick to this narrative even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

After calling all the allegations against Newton “pure garbage,” Auburn head coach Gene Chizik said, “He is like our son here, and I’ve got a problem with this.” More than 25,000 Auburn fans are attending the Facebook event “I Stand with Cam and Auburn.”

This is what you get from a historically undistinguished football program that is an archrival of the defending national champions. There are no lengths that Auburn fans will not go to defend the one player who has given them their one chance to be truly better than Alabama. That is why they are so obnoxious and obsessive over Cam Newton. That is why they go around embarrassing themselves chanting “War Cam Eagle.”

Any recognition of his imperfections would undermine their faith in their whole team because he is their whole team. He is all they’ve got, and they only have him for a year.

Whether Auburn did in fact recruit Newton by outbidding MSU in an eBay-style auction is irrelevant. A lot of colleges use money for recruiting, and Alabama has all too recently suffered years for it. The issue is instead the shamelessness with which Auburn ridiculously promotes ideas about itself, its team and its star athlete that everyone knows are not true.

Also at issue is the state of recruiting in college athletics. Talented athletes shouldn’t have to be Eagle Scouts and National Honor Society members to come to college and play ball. College sports provide a lot of kids with a pathway into a career, and those kids earn it.

But there has to be somewhere we draw the line. In a hyper-competitive environment like the SEC, sheer pride alone should preclude schools from recruiting players who leave other universities in the conference under questionable circumstances or accumulate a consistent record of mischievous conduct.

Auburn, however, seems to have concluded that their most important goal is to make a stand against Alabama, even if that requires playing a guy with an exceptional history of causing trouble. Hopefully, they will soon learn the foolishness of that strategy.

Hopefully, no other team will emulate their pathetic efforts.

When the Iron Bowl comes to town in two weeks, remember; our quarterback is a finalist for a Rhodes scholarship; theirs is the subject of a pay-for-play investigation. While that may not count on the scoreboard, it does count as something we can take pride in.

Tray Smith is the opinions editor of the Crimson White. His column runs on Fridays.