This picture has absolutely nothing to do with Miami, but looks awesome.

Let's be clear: it hasn't been a good year for fans of The U. Even if they could tolerate the pedestrian tales of rebuilding (or worse, statements that Kirby Freeman would be allowed on campus again), things weren't right. Reality had been catching up to the romantic notion that the Orange Bowl, that decrepit, beautiful bastion of filth, would last forever.

It turns out that deals were in place that dictated otherwise, and the Orange Bowl was condemned to a quiet, unceremonious demolition.

Funny how it didn't work like that.

Indeed, as crews allegedly worked on deconstructing the old stadium on Monday evening, it burst into flames. Sure, careless workers were blamed for leaving flammable materials out, and sure, the flame was quicky isolated and extinguished. Whatever. We know better. Sure, the Orange Bowl may burn, but it burns on its own terms, damn it.

In other words, this is the ultimate dignity, a stadium igniting itself in lieu of an emasculating, intolerable demolition process. The OB doesn't go out like that, and you're a stupid [unprintable] for thinking otherwise. Cock your head like a confused German Shepherd if you must, but ask a single Canes fan about the fire, and they'll just nod knowingly. The Orange Bowl would rather burn than host baseball, and if given the opportunity, you'd choose the same. Next time, local crews should give the football gods their proper dues and let the OB burn away. If a stadium could talk, it would thank them.

I'm not proud of some of the crap I've complained about to my parents; if memory serves correctly, most of revolved around video games (and lack thereof) and attendance of Jewish high holidays. But my folks had pretty normal childhoods and such and such, so you know- they rolled with it I suppose. So yeah, I wouldn't have lasted a second in Randy Shannon's household, considering his revealing SI profile that exposed a man who's seen more tragedy than probably me and all of my friends combined. Imagine coming up to him with some weak ish about making your bed.

So, while his son Xavier may have not originally scared up much interest from the Florida powerhouses coming out of high school, I'd imagine he's a seriously tough dude. Or at least the offensive lineman's trying to prove it with his transfer to Miami from FIU (coached by former Miami assistant Larry Cristobal) to play for his pops. Well, that's not how Randy sees it:

'He's not on scholarship now. He's not. He's on tuition remission. They didn't convince me [to let him come here]. He wanted to go to school here. And the football part came secondary. It's like I told the coaching staff, if he wants to come here, I'm not talking to him. And I'm not talking to him. I don't say much to him but `Hi,' and that's about all I say to him.''

I'd imagine he's a livelier dude on the recruiting trail if this year's haul is any evidence.

If you wandered over to the various recruiting sites on signing day you probably noticed big banners proclaiming Alabama's return to power via the nation's top recruiting class. This is due in large part to the enormous number of recruits that put pen to letter of intent for Nick Saban: 32, a full seven more than the NCAA's yearly limit of 25. Only Miami managed to stretch the boundaries of the rule further, signing 33.

Both classes are top five but in are overrated by sheer quantity. Alabama's #1 class is actually #6 by star average; Miami's #4 class is 14th by that metric. Both contain large numbers of players with no chance to qualify this fall; it's all smoke and mirrors.

That's irritating, but Tim Gayle's piece on the massive 'Bama oversigning is disturbing. Gayle crunches the numbers and comes to these conclusions:

• Four to six guys are not going to qualify.
• Four more guys who are marginally useful can plausibly be given medical scholarships and removed from the team.
• Six more scholarships need to be forcibly extracted from somewhere.

Around six guys who are playing for Alabama now or expect to be in the fall are going to be told to get bent by the time fall practice rolls around. But let's all complain about how nasty Rich Rodriguez is, why don't we?

More adventures in iffy scheduling. As for the culprit, where else but a school down south lightening the load.

Florida State has begun recent football seasons against the likes of Miami and Clemson, but because of an academic fraud scandal that will leave Coach Bobby Bowden's team short-handed, the Seminoles will open their 2008 season against two of the weaker teams they've played in recent memory.

FSU on Friday released its 2008 schedule, which features season-opening games at home against Division I-AA teams Western Carolina, on Sept. 6, and Chattanooga on Sept. 13.

I'm all for free enterprise so I'm not here to demand a banning of the whole scheduling of I-AA opponents thing. However, I am here to shame schools like Florida State and LSU who try, no matter their reasons. Money talks and a suitable opponent could have been found.

As made clear in the article, Western Carolina and Chattanooga are a helplessly impoverished man's Appalachian State. They combined to go just 3-21 last year in I-AA. To be fair, the Seminoles do face Colorado in Jacksonville this year after having tripped out to Boulder to play the Buffs last year.

Also: Miami fans already hold a grudge over Florida's general unwillingness to play them. Now Florida State's off the schedule. Not good. What has happened to the state of football in Florida when these schools can't get together? This is the stuff that creates real opportunity for UCF, Florida International and USF to emerge from the shadows. Retracted, amended . . . I know.

Here's hoping your school isn't using whiskey as mouthwash thinking about who it woke up next to this morning

Themes

USC Soars Late, Pulls Shocker

Tallahassee Lincoln kids love to flirt, and they're never lacking for suitors. But when push comes to shove, the vast majority of them break hearts and stick with the hometown Seminoles. So it came as a complete shock to many people when highly regarded cornerback T.J. Bryant cast his lot with Pete Carroll and USC.

USC lost out on Alabama linebacker Jerrell Harris, but did pull in Bryant, Michigan linebacker Nick Perry and Los Angeles linebacker Uona Kavienga throughout the second half of the day to slide into 7th place in the Rivals.com rankings. It's been a great month of recruiting overall as USC recently got a pledge from the nation's top player for 2009 in quarterback Matt Barkley along with several other preliminary top 100 recruits. Damn.

Back To The Future

As expertly stated by EDSBS, the top of the recruiting rankings have a certain 1985 feel. Alabama, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Miami ... thank heaven for moth balls.

Miscellany

Notre Dame has a great deal to prove on the field after last year's disaster and two consecutive BCS flops. However, the Irish were magnificent in holding together their recruiting class and finding some decent guys in the trenches (at least on defense, anyway). The same can be said for UCLA after the departure of coach Karl Dorrell.

Jumpin' Sam McGuffie briefly flirted with California, but he's come home now and will stick with Michigan.

"At heart, I'm a 'Cane"

Is Miami back? The 'Canes sure aren't hurting for having signed Harris in assembling the nation's #4 recruiting class. Now about that offense . . .

Rarely have the excesses of recruiting ever been so on display as during the recruitment of linebacker Willie Williams. Williams wrote diaries detailing his visits and interactions with coaches for the Miami Herald. In them, he described visits to night clubs, private jet flights, rides in fancy cars and the epicurean madness that is consuming limitless steak and lobster.

It didn't take long for the NCAA to react and further impose recruiting regulations mirroring its reaction to sex and drug related recruiting madness at Colorado several years prior. A brief sampling:

The NCAA acted quickly, forcing schools to formulate and submit written policies that would govern official visits. It outlawed recruiting hostess groups, instead forcing schools to use the tour guides available to any prospective student. Private planes were banned along with personalized jerseys, "gameday simulations," swanky hotel suites and anything but a "standard" meal.

Don't get me wrong, recruiting is still a sometimes seedy game, but it appears some of the excesses have successfully been curbed.

Brian Battle, [Florida State's] associate athletic director for compliance, said the guidelines leveled the playing field and ended a costly game of one-upsmanship.

"[The rules] standardized things. It did away with the excessive nature of things," Battle said. "Everybody was playing by the same rules."

As much as I rail about the NCAA, these recent changes have been reasonable while still allowing schools to show their more coveted recruits a good time. Some things remain unfair ($30 for player to entertain recruits goes a lot further in Starksville than it does Los Angeles or Chicago), but those can be worked out over time.

Time for some real talk; every now and again, after a hard day in the salt mines I catch myself with my slippers on, snifter of brandy in hand, thinking about the 2005 and 2006 Miami Hurricanes. And I just zone out on the vibes. What good times we all had! The on-field brawls, the almost on-field brawls, the rich tradition of winning the Humanitarian Bowl. And considering his impact on the Willie Williams recruiting diaries, we're all richer for having him in our life.

So why can't a coach who's managed to win a National Championship this very decade get even a sniff of opportunity? That's what Coker wants to know, since other than what amounts to a courtesy call from SMU, he's been a non-factor in pretty much every coaching search across this great nation. I mean, Al Golden won four games at Temple last year, and he was a serious candidate for UCLA. Why should West Virginia hire their version of Larry Coker when they could have the real deal? So sayeth Coker,

"'There are people getting jobs who haven't had the success I've had,'' said Coker, who was 60-15 in six years as UM's coach. 'I'm at the point where I don't need to prove myself. I don't have to coach again, but I'm not burned out. My health is good. I don't feel old. Joe Paterno said to me, `You need to be in college coaching.'"

Maybe he can hold out until Butch Davis leaves UNC, but I wouldn't be surprised if a San Jose State or what have you took a chance on Coker, but the way things ended in Coral Gables certainly won't have him getting a reference from Donna Shalala. And some would argue he's the college football equivalent of Barry Switzer ... when he coached the Cowboys, that is. Then again, Coker is 59 years old, which is FAR younger (or, less old) than I expected him to be, really. Then again, feeling young after a conversation with Joe Paterno probably isn't the best gauge of one's vitality. If nothing's poppin' right now, he can always head back to the ESPN U crew, but he's right in that coaches with far less tangible success and shadier dealings than him have gotten second chances.

Miami's offense has been garbage bag the last couple of seasons under the stewardship of Brock Berlin and Kyle Wright and (to a lesser extent) Kirby Freeman, but at the very least, you could always bring out the ol' "well, their defense is as good as ever" canard. At least until this year; when you field a D with two future 1st-round picks and you still let Oklahoma drop 51 on you, that's cause for concern. When you let Virginia drop 44 on you, you might want to think about the future in more immediate terms. When it happens in the Orange Bowl's last game ever, well, UPS is hirin'.

One year after replacing the promoted Randy Shannon as Miami defensive coordinator, Tim Walton got the most unceremonious of axes. But fear not- Miami was able to steal Kansas' DC right from under Mark Mangino's fat, unhireable nose. Despite Bill Young's rather ripe age of 61, he can't help but be seen as the latest coup for the still-struggling Canes, who are bringing in the nation's #1 recruiting class, at least according to ESPN. Despite the somewhat dubious schedule of Kansas, finishing in the top ten with regards to scoring defense isn't something to sneeze at, considering that the likes of Southeastern Louisiana and Central Michigan have offenses at least as competent as that of Miami nowadays.

The biggest curiosity about the 2006 draft might not have been the fact that Reggie Bush was bypassed for Mario Williams, but the fact that NC State managed to come up with three first round draft picks despite going 7-5. That's what Chuck Amato will get ya, I suppose. Well, in another case of "monster recruiter, questionable game coach," we've got Randy Shannon, whose 5-7 Miami Hurricanes will likely produce two first round draft picks in 2008, safety Kenny Phillips and now defensive end Calais Campbell, who declared earlier this week after delaying the inevitable when the Canes missed out on bowl season for the first time in a decade.

More than likely, it will be the 14th straight year the Canes produce a first-round pick. Phillips projects as being a possible top-15 guy whereas Campbell is all over the map, but the U's track record shouldn't ignored, unless you're talking about their most recent QB's.