Why does the AP continue to reward cheaters?

The NCAA found USC guilty of major infractions in 2004 and 2005, in other words they cheated and got caught. The BCS had no problem stripping USC of its title in 2004, it was a unanimous vote.  So why does the AP insist on keeping USC as its proclaimed champion of that season? I'm not saying that USC wasn't the best team that season, they very likely were. What I am saying is, when you cheat and get caught you typically get punished and you certainly don't get rewarded. Unless of course you work for the AP. This sort of action is what got the AP poll removed from the BCS rankings.  This is not the first time the AP has rewarded a college football program guilty of cheating,  they did it back in 1974 with Oklahoma and there are probably other instances that occurred as well. I just don't feel like doing any more research at the moment. This is a very dangerous precedent the AP has set for itself.  It doesn't matter if you cheat and get caught, just win all the games. That's the only thing that matters.  In fact, if you win by a large enough margin some will almost forget that you played those games with a professional athlete on your team as seen by the five writers in this article.  At the very least the AP should vacate the title from 2004, showing that they won't reward teams for cheating. They should probably take a step further and declare Auburn and Utah co-champions since both finished the season undefeated and neither were caught cheating.  Every day the AP refuses to acknowledge the corrupt behavior at USC, I can only assume that the AP itself is also corrupt.