The NCAA stunned Ohio State and the Buckeye Nation on Tuesday when it announced that the Buckeyes will be ineligible to play in any bowl game next season, adding to the school’s self-imposed penalties for the violation that caused five players to be suspended an ultimately cost head coach Jim Tressel his job.

The news hits hard as new head coach Urban Meyer is out hitting the recruiting trail hard and poised to get the program back on the right track.

In its ruling, the NCAA Committee of Infractions added the bowl ban and two other penalties on top of the ones the university already imposed on itself. 

--Stripped four more football scholarships on top of Ohio State’s prior forfeiture of five scholarships over three seasons. The NCAA stipulated that OSU forfeit three scholarships (from a total of 85 to 82) in each of the next three seasons.

-- Added nearly 1 1/2 years to the probation imposed by Ohio State on the football program. The school wanted a two-year that started July 8. Instead, Ohio State will be on probation for three years through Dec. 19, 2014.

The NCAA also handed a five-year show-cause penalty to former head coach Jim Tressel for “unethical conduct” when he failed to report that some team members improperly sold memorabilia and for knowingly allowing ineligible players to compete throughout the 2010 season.

The show-cause penalty against Tressel signifies he is a serious offender, with the NCAA saying that he must sit out the first five games for his first season and any post-season games at any NCAA school that hires him. The school could appeal the penalty.

“The former head coach failed to pursue any of the options available to him that would have preserved the well-being of his institution and his student-athletes,” the report said. “As a result, the committee concluded that the former head coach should be seriously sanctioned.”

College Football ncaa ban, ohio state buckeyes, jim tressel