Friday column: Integrity questions? Heaven forbid ...

It’s an unfortunate but illuminating choice of words.

“No one likes a cloud of accusations and questions about integrity,” new Pacific 12 commissioner Larry Scott said at the conference’s recent media day. “That’s not the Pac-12 brand.”

Use of brand, of course, suggests the word commodity — that, after all, is what you brand — which would refer not only to the competition college football sells but also to the people who do the competing, the players.

In college sports, branding and selling are what matters, in spite of the NCAA’s mission statement, which in part burbles that the organization’s purpose is to “integrate intercollegiate athletics into higher education so that the educational experience of the student-athlete is paramount.”

The educational experience of the student-athlete is not paramount in any of the NCAA’s member institutions. Winning (and making money) is. And to win, you need a superior commodity, which is why, it appears, the University of Oregon paid talent scout Willie Lyles $25,000 to deliver running back Lache Seastrunk — to whom Lyles had close ties — to Eugene.

Unfortunately for Oregon, paying for players is a rules violation, which is why once word of the transaction got out, the Ducks coaching staff quickly contacted Lyles, asking for some actual scouting material — player evaluations and game tape — that would justify the 25 large.

Again, unfortunately for the Ducks, what Lyles hurriedly put together included useless and outdated material that, once released, made Oregon coach Chip Kelly an object of ridicule — and investigation.

Which is why Kelly recently was peppered with questions about the scandal, questions he said he wasn’t at liberty to answer — much to his chagrin.

“I’d love to talk about it,” he said. “There are a lot of answers I’d love to make sure we get out there.”

Sure, Chip, you’d just love to answer questions about your apparent duplicity. Well, good news, my friend! The NCAA is coming to Eugene, and you’ll get all the opportunity to talk you could possibly want.

The NCAA is also heading to Baton Rouge, La., home of the LSU Tigers, who also paid money to Lyles for services not rendered.

Yes, there were “scouting reports” that came from Lyles. Unfortunately for head coach Les Miles, they were of the same caliber as those sent to Eugene — worthless.

Asked for specifics about the material, Herb Vincent, LSU senior associate athletic director, said, “I do not have this information and cannot provide this information at this time.”

But you’d love to provide it, wouldn’t you, Herb?

Cutting through the … uh, bunkum … it looks as though both Oregon and LSU paid Lyles to try to deliver players to their institutions of higher learning.

Which is why it’s particularly appropriate that the first big game of the first big Saturday of the season features none other than, yes, the Ducks and Tigers, on national TV.

Call it the Willie Lyles Bowl.

That would be proper branding.