USC won't be eligible for a bowl game until 2012.
(Creative Commons)

The hammer came down on the USC athletics program Thursday and it came down hard.

In a wordy, 67-page report, the National Collegiate Athletic Association banned the USC football program from postseason activity (bowl games) for two years for the football team and took away 30 scholarships over the course of the next three years.
   
In addition, USC  will forfeit all of the victories that Reggie Bush played in after December 2004 and all of the games that O.J. Mayo played during the 2007-08 season and will have extra limitations placed on it in terms of recruiting capabilities.

 USC will also be placed on four years of probation.

The NCAA report centered around Reggie Bush (referred to as "student athlete 1" in the report) and the football program, but it also mentioned O.J. Mayo ("student athlete 2") and a former member of the women's tennis team.

The NCAA illustrated multiple alleged infractions and the institution's agreement and/or disagreement with each infraction.
 
USC  Senior Vice President for Administration Todd Dickey announced today that, after reviewing the report, the program will accept some of the penalties imposed by the Committee but will appeal the penalties it believes are excessive.

No actions will be taken against the program until the appeal has been settled.

The report is the result of an investigation that began in 2006 and stemmed from allegations about  benefits given to Reggie Bush during the glory years of 2004-05.

Bush allegedly received one year of free lodging in San Diego for his parents and $10,000 given to buy furniture as well as free appliances, transportation for his family to the 2005 BCS game in Miami, cash to purchase a Chevy Impala, expenses paid at a San Diego hotel totaling $1,574, expenses paid at a Las Vegas hotel totaling $564, and other miscellaneous cash and benefits.
 
According to the report, "From December 2004 through March 2009, the institution exhibited a lack of control over its department of athletics by its failure to have in place procedures to effectively monitor the violations of NCAA amateurism, recruiting and extra benefit legislation in the sports of football, men's basketball and women's tennis."

The USC coaching staff was somber but positive in the face of the sanctions.
 
 "I cannot say very many things about the investigation or the decisions," USC coach Lane Kiffin said Thursday in a meeting with the press at Heritage Hall. "But I can say this: In our mind, our fans and everyone involved in the USC program, that USC is an extremely powerful place. It's an extremely powerful university. It's an extremely powerful football program.

USC's been through a lot before. We will continue to play championship football. We will continue to recruit the best players in America to come here."

Quarterback Matt Barkley also maintained a stiff upper lip.

"I'm not disappointed," Barkley said. "You can't look at it from that perspective...I still get to play football. It's a privilege to be able to play here at USC, however many games we get."

Positivity aside, USC has felt the full force of the NCAA's wrath, and it appears this initial report may be just the beginning.

Patrick Crawley contributed to this report.