Where there's smoke, there's fire

This last Tuesday March 1st marked the beginning of a  "ohhhh shhhii.." type moment for any Oregon fan. On Colin Cowherd's nationally syndicated radio show, The Herd, Cowherd foreshadowed a big big recruiting-violation type story in college football saying that a major program will be "outed" for its various recruiting violations.
Sure enough, the letters O-R-E-G-O-N were on the front page of ESPN.com on Thursday morning. To spare my (few) readers a drawn out explanation of what is being probed. (Hehe, I said "probed") Click Here.
By sparing my paranoia as to what might happen, my analysis pretty much comes down to a few questions:
1. Why was Willie Lyles paid a massive lump sum AFTER Lache signed with Oregon?
2. Is this payment ($25,000) an abnormally large amount for a powerhouse such as Oregon to pay a man? Other coaches say around five thousand dollars is usual, but this sum is not unheard of.
3. HOW SCREWED ARE WE?
In the words of one of my roommates, Where there's smoke, there's fire. I think we are in for a bit more than a slap on the wrist from the NCAA. But whether Oregon is actually in the wrong remains to be seen. All of this is a bit sad considering the character of the student athlete who is in the middle of all of this. Lache Seastrunk has a great reputation here at the University of Oregon. He is a non-drinker and non-smoker, attends church and is involved with his youth group, and loves his madden 11. A student athlete who stays out of trouble with the law and goes about his business in a professional manner in the classroom seems to almost be a rarity with athletes at perennial powerhouses. (exhibit A: Cam Newton)