Why Miami Hurricanes Football Scandal Is Helping Oregon Ducks

The NCAA allegations against the University of Miami involving the improper benefits given by Nevi Shapiro to at least 72 players from 2002-2010 have cast a large shadow over all of college football.

The improper benefits given by Shapiro include cars, money and sex parties. These "benefits" are going to do nothing but hurt the Hurricanes' football program, but they might in some way help the program at the University of Oregon.

I know that you are probably wondering why or how this could change what is going on in Eugene, but here is my theory:

The Ducks are under an investigation of their own for paying Willie Lyles $25,000 for recruiting services, mainly in regard to ex five-star prospect Lache Seastrunk. The services were no help according to the UO athletic department, but Lyles claims otherwise. I would not be surprised if either side was lying, but that is not the point of this article, so we will save that for another time.

The University of Miami dealt with a lot more money than $25,000 when Shapiro was involved in their program.As shown in the media the spotlight has been placed squarely onto the Hurricanes' program due to the enormity of their situation. This means that Chip Kelly will face less media attention, at least on the national level, when it comes to their probe from the NCAA. Kelly will then have more time to iron out all of the kinks in his blur offense and hopefully figure out how to move the ball against LSU's defense.

Scoring the ball might seem like a given to Oregon fans, but one look at the national title game clearly shows otherwise. Auburn was ready to play because of their preparation, and although the other Tigers do not have Nick Fairley anchoring their line they still have plenty of prowess on their d-line to get the job done. Chip Kelly will need as much time as possible with his young offensive unit in order to get them ready to march into SEC country and at the very least put up a fight. Darron Thomas, Lamichael James, Lavasier Tuinei, and Kenjon Barner will all be looked at for veteran leadership, and more importantly scoring opportunities, when it comes time to play in Dallas.

Punishment of Oregon by the NCAA is another area that will be affected by the investigation of Miami. The NCAA will have to find a balance between its punishment of Miami versus its punishments of other programs such as USC. If Miami gets a harsh punishment, as they should, what will it entail? If it is only a punishment as big as USC's then it is safe to say that Oregon will basically get a slap on the wrist. However, if the Miami punishment is larger than that of USC's and presumably Ohio State's as well, we could see a slightly bigger punishment inflicted onto Oregon. It all depends on what kind of curve the NCAA is punishing programs on. Unfortunately, predicting the weather is ten times easier than predicting what the NCAA will do with any of it's cases.

The bottom line for the Ducks is that all they can do is perform on the field and behave off of it. That means that there can not be anymore Cliff Harris-like incidents from any of the players and no scandals from any of the boosters, such as Phil Knight. If the Ducks can creep under the radar of the NCAA and stay at the forefront of the BCS than it's mission accomplished for the program. It might not make what has already happened any better, but it will definitely stop it from getting any worse.