Countdown to Shame: Top 10 Scandals

Wow, wow, wow!!! Scandals and Controversy are everywhere, but apparently for college football it is becoming more and more prevalent.

I have composed a top ten list of College Football's Scandals, including everything from Florida's 24 arrests, to Alabama's Textbook Scandal, to the newest Tennessee Volunteer players being charged with robbery. Who will make it to #1??

#10 Alabama: Mike Price & Co...

Alabama's program got rocked in 2003 when allegations of playing ineligible players and paying strippers to entertain recruits. This resulted in the firing of head coach, Mike Price just four months after he took the position.

Since the last national title in 1992, the school has been hit with NCAA sanctions twice, including three years of bowl bans and the loss of 34 scholarships

#9 SMU's

On 03/03/1987 the news hit Texas like a ton of bricks. SMU was being canceled for the entire season and only away games for the following year.

They had already been put on three years of probation for recruiting violations, seven times more than any team in their division.

An investigation found that 21 players received approximately $61,000 in cash payments with the assistance of athletic department staff members from a slush fund provided by a booster.

Payments ranged from $50 to $725 per month and started only a month after SMU went on its original probation (though it later emerged that a slush fund had been maintained in one form or another since the mid-1970s).

Also, SMU officials lied to NCAA officials about when the payments stopped.

#8 Colorado: A mix of sex, alcohol, and football

In 2004, University of Colorado football program was brought under some not so flattering light.

Three women who say they were raped in 2001 by Colorado football players or recruits at, or after, an off-campus party in the Boulder, CO, area filed federal lawsuits under Title IX.

The women allege that Colorado fostered an atmosphere hostile to women in its football program by countenancing parties for recruits at which there was an expectation of sexual favors.

#7 Boston College: Gambling Careers Away

In 1997, 13 players of the Boston College Eagles were rolled like dice right into the largest gambling scandal in college football history.

The school suspended 13 players for the final three games of the 1996 season after an investigation into gambling on the Eagles football team. One has since suffered a career-ending injury, four were allowed to complete their coursework, and three had their scholarships revoked.

Of the remaining five, the school said, two players have had their eligibility reinstated, two were suspended for the first two games of the 1997 season, and one will sit out the first four games.

At the end of that season Head Coach Dan Henning retired, he says, due to his 16-19-1 record with the Eagles. I call shenanigans on that!!

#6 Florida Gators: Loves the Law

In the 4 years that Urban Meyer has been head coach for the Florida Gators he has had 24 players arrested. That's an entire recruiting class.

The lingering, malingering, assaulting, battering, drunken driving, and stealing have the Florida Gators known for some time now as a "Convict Program."

For the continuing arrests they get #5

#5 Miami & FIU: All out Brawl

Picture This: It's Miami vs FIU in 2006 where 31 players from both teams (18 from FIU and 13 from Miami) were suspended, and three of the Miami players were indefinitely suspended after what seems to be a battle royale on the field.

FIU cornerback Chris Smith wrestled Miami holder Matt Perelli to the ground after the kick and appeared to punch him in the chin. Another FIU cornerback, Marshall McDuffie, Jr., kicked Perelli in the head. Miami's Anthony Reddick swung his helmet at FIU players, and Miami's Brandon Meriweather kicked an FIU player. FIU's A'Mod Ned, who was injured, came onto the field and swung at Miami players with his crutches.

#4 Alabama: Not so textbook

While I hate to add Alabama to this list AGAIN, and think this one is little less as drastic as others before it, per a poll I took this seems to be the one that everyone says was horrific.

During the 2007 season, five UA football players—including starting center Antoine Caldwell and starting running back Glenn Coffee—were held out of four games as punishment for their involvement in the scandal.

Athletes from other sports, including cross country and track, are believed to be involved, though the university cited federal privacy laws in redacting most names, sports, and figures from its internal investigation.

"Obviously some players did not use good judgment in what they did," coach Nick Saban said of the situation.

#3 Florida & Oregon: Fists & Eyes

Again, with Florida, it really saddens me to see this here, and I'm sure that most of my fellow Gator fans will "chomp at the bits" for me for writing this, but all I can say is "don't shoot the messenger"

Blount—The first day after the college season for Oregon ended for LaGarrette Blount. After losing to Boise St. he pummeled DE Byron Hunt, which resulted in suspension for the entire season.

Coach Chip Kelly was quoted saying Kelly said he hoped Blount's ultimate legacy "won't be a YouTube clip of what happened to him on September 3rd in Boise, Idaho."

--yeah..too late.

Spikes—Good ol' Brandon Spikes, what in the World were you thinking?? During the UGA vs FL game Brandon Spikes decided to give back what he felt had been dished out and "attempted" to gouge the eyes of UGA's Washaun Ealey.

Coach Urban Meyer first suspended Spikes for the first half of the FL vs Vandy game, only for Spikes himself to come back and make it a full game. Even though Ealey himself said he did not think it was intentional, it was serious potentially ruining the career of the semi-pro possible Ealey.

Therefore, earning him the nickname-Brandon "gouge" Spikes

#2 Tennessee: Lane Kiffin & Pellet Guns?

Fresh into Knoxville, Lane Kiffin made a name for himself that most fans (other than TN of course) thought was absolutely pompous and entirely too confident.

First, "coarsing" Nu'keese Richardson to lie to Urban Meyer, call a false rule on Meyer saying he was "cheating" and that "he cheated and still didn't get the recruit", and now being ho-hum about circumstances that are very serious makes him a scandal in himself.

Thursday, November 12th, 2009 three Vols football players (including the shady recruit Nu'keese Richardson), some of their top recruits was arrested for Armed Robbery, with get this..a pellet gun!!!!

Although two had $19,500 bonds, one claims innocent and was released on his own recognizance. In the state of Tennessee there is no such thing as attempted armed robbery. It comes in levels, and what I believe will happen will be Attempted Aggravated Robbery which is a Class C felony, which is pretty much a misdemeanor, probably not do a day of jail time..

Real question is...what is the almighty Lane Kiffin going to do?

#1 Bryant & Butts: The Fix

9/22/1962: THE FIX..name says it all. A 10-1 Alabama going up against a 3-4 Georgia seemed effortless as Joe Namath was throwing unbelievably. It would later become associated with the worst words you could ever hear in college football: a fix

Five months later Bear Bryant and long-time friend Wally Butts were charged with fixing the Alabama-Georgia game, putting their lives and those programs in jeopardy.

Even though Bryant passed a lie detector test, Butts entered the courtroom larger than life and drew football plays on a chalkboard.

After that his reputation was ruined. He was asked to resign. Some say a lot to do with his long-term sordid affair. Six months after the Butts trial, Bryant settled his with $300,000 and a retraction.

And that to many, not just myself, is the greatest scandal in college history.