Ifeanyi Loses Appeal and Withdraws Suit : College football: NCAA ruling means USC player will sit out Saturday’s game at Washington.

Israel Ifeanyi of USC lost an appeal with the NCAA on Thursday, then dropped his lawsuit against the organization and will sit out Saturday’s pivotal Pacific 10 Conference football game against Washington.

The complicated three-week dispute ended after the NCAA eligibility committee upheld a two-game sanction levied against Ifeanyi three weeks ago for accepting money from fellow Nigerians living in Los Angeles.

Mark Wooster, Ifeanyi’s attorney, said the player did not want to pursue a protracted legal battle so he dissolved the civil suit that was filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court.

“I just want to move on, get it over with,” Ifeanyi said Thursday night.

Ifeanyi, a starting defensive end, played last week against Notre Dame after getting a court order blocking his suspension until his appeals were heard by the NCAA.

Ifeanyi and USC were denied appeals this week by the interpretations and eligibility committees. He could have played Saturday in Seattle because the court order remained in effect until Nov. 2, had he pursued the suit.

“Sometimes you have to get things behind you and go forward,” Wooster said. “Sometimes you have to accept some injustices in life.”

The Orange Coast College transfer will be eligible to play Nov. 4 against Stanford. So will teammate Errick Herrin, who was suspended for five games for his involvement with Oxnard sports agent Robert Troy Caron. Ifeanyi was suspended for two games for accepting benefits from Caron and two for receiving about $3,650 from members of his Igbo tribe.

“It’s nice to have this finally resolved,” Coach John Robinson said. “Both Izzy and Errick will still be left with enough time to make a contribution to their season and our team.”

The NCAA eligibility staff had initially ruled that Ifeanyi had to repay the money by Nov. 10, the 10th game of the season. But the deadline has been extended to the end of the season because the appeals process took so long.

Carrie Doyle, NCAA director of eligibility, said Ifeanyi must repay $3,650 to a charity of his choice. If he fails to do so he will be declared ineligible should No. 13-ranked USC (6-1) receive a postseason bowl bid.

USC officials petitioned the staff to reduce the amount Ifeanyi owed because he received about $1,000 while enrolled at the university. But the NCAA’s rules on amateurism include any payment pertaining to athletic status. Ifeanyi has received money and support from Igbos since arriving in the United States in 1990.

Ifeanyi said he has called his parents in Nigeria to try to raise money for him.

Ifeanyi, who testified before the eligibility committee Thursday, argued that the support was a tribal custom not related to his status as a football player. He asked committee members how they would feel if they were punished in Nigeria for something they had done all their lives in America.

Thursday night, Ifeanyi said, “I would like to ask the NCAA who do they represent: the students, the colleges or themselves? Where do their interests lie? They don’t seem to care about the students.”

Ifeanyi said he is more concerned with his teammates who will return in future seasons over how the NCAA will deal with athletes.

“I just happen to be caught in a net,” he said. “In a way the NCAA tries to make the students look bad.”

Said Robert Lane, USC general counsel: “We are saddened by the fact the NCAA does not recognize the religious and cultural differences that are found in Nigeria and the United States.

“Ifeanyi did not understand that the familial relationships that exist in Nigeria are not recognized here.”