Well drop the hammer is a phrase that can be used to mean anything. I'm sure ND has the war chest to weather just about any punitive damages that are doled out and I'd be very surprised if the football program is directly harmed, nor should it, unless something really negligent comes out. So yes, in that case, it's unlikely that ND will have the hammer dropped on it in a way that will jeopardize its standing as a university or the football team. On the other hand, reflexively saying that it's nothing more than meaningless message board pounding is speculative too considering we don't know what the investigation concludes. It really seemed like you were saying there's no way anything criminally negligent happened because you sound convinced there won't even be a civil suit, let alone a criminal one.