The gutsiest call of this Auburn football season wasn't made by Gene Chizik. It wasn't going for it twice on fourth down in the fourth quarter of the Iron Bowl.
One false move in either case, and the Tigers could've lost the game.
One wrong move in the case of Cam Newton, and they could've lost this season.
The NCAA's much-anticipated ruling Wednesday contains two key points that lead to one inescapable conclusion.
The points: Newton is eligible to play in the SEC Championship Game against South Carolina, and he didn't compete while ineligible during any of the 12 regular-season games.
The conclusion: Auburn owes game balls to its compliance director, Rich McGlynn, and its longtime go-to outside counsel, Sam Franklin and William King.
Lawyering up isn't a bad thing, especially if your lawyers are willing to stand up for one of your student-athletes and for the concept of innocent until proven guilty.
That quaint but vital legal concept has all but vanished from the court of public opinion, which is why the timing of the ruling was important.
It was important to the SEC to answer the question about Newton's eligibility before he plays in the league's marquee event.
It was important to Auburn to clear the air before that game is played Saturday, the BCS Championship Game is set Sunday and Heisman votes are due Monday.
The ruling isn't total closure, but it's about as close as the NCAA will come in this kind of case.
The ruling is another victory for undefeated Auburn, but it's no reason to roll Toomer's Corner. Consider the finding at the heart of the matter.
The NCAA said that Newton's father, Cecil, and Kenny Rogers worked together to shop the quarterback to Mississippi State. That's both sad and disturbing. SEC Commissioner Mike Slive was right to condemn the actions of both men.
The Newton family and the Auburn family will have to deal with that fallout. The sins of the father put a cloud over his son, and the ruling won't make that cloud go away.
Where does their relationship go from here?
Where does this story go from here? Probably nowhere, short of new evidence surfacing.
Focus on this statement from NCAA official Kevin Lennon: "Based on the information available to the reinstatement staff at this time, we do not have sufficient evidence that Cam Newton or anyone from Auburn was aware of this activity."
Don't think the NCAA didn't look for that evidence. Hard.
Some analysts have seized on the phrase "at this time" to suggest that the NCAA's investigation is still full steam ahead.
The NCAA's statement bolstered that notion when it said, "Reinstatement decisions are independent of the NCAA enforcement process and typically are made once the facts of the student-athlete's involvement are determined. The reinstatement process is likely to conclude prior to the close of an investigation."
But there's a key point the statement doesn't make. Auburn has not received an official letter of inquiry in this matter. That means it hasn't crossed the line from eligibility issue to infractions case.
It's always possible that new information can come to light, but consider the expert opinion of Montgomery attorney Donald Jackson, a frequent opponent of the NCAA in eligibility cases.
"If there was a big fire here, this ruling wouldn't have happened," Jackson said.
Multiple Chicken Littles have cried that the ruling opens a loophole bigger than Nick Fairley's belt loops, that greedy fathers everywhere have been given license to become auctioneers before signing day.
Please. If Newton were playing at Mississippi State when the NCAA found his dad and his dad's accomplice had shopped him there, do you think he would keep playing at State without missing a snap?
If the NCAA found that Cecil Newton or Rogers got paid by anyone on his behalf, do you think Cam Newton would've been declared ineligible but reinstated almost immediately without conditions?
Of course not. The NCAA can't sit a player based on suspicion, and a school shouldn't. Based on the evidence, Auburn and the NCAA got this one right.
There's no guarantee that questions about Cam Newton's character won't continue to surface - some people may not quit on that point - but Wednesday's ruling answered the more pressing question about his eligibility.
Auburn can thank McGlynn, Franklin and King for getting that answer without rolling over, as too many schools do. As valuable as Newton's been on the field, those guys have been just as valuable behind the scenes.
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