OPINION

By Mike Farrell

updated 10:03 p.m. ET Oct. 18, 2006

There seems to be two parties when it comes to college football logic. There's Miami (Fla.) and there's the rest of the country.

In Miami's world, helmet swinging and leg stomping during a brawl are not reasons for concern. Such things, televised and replayed repeatedly, do not threaten the job security of a coach who should already be gone. And it warrants a one-game suspension for players involved, players who likely want to hit themselves with helmets and stomp their own legs for missing the annual Miami-Duke thriller. And finally, the brawl is just the way things are done for the Hurricanes. You talk smack on our turf, prepare to get slugged.

And you thought things were ugly when Miami was destroyed by Louisville or when the 'Canes eked out a victory over Houston? The worst was yet to come.

The Miami family sticks together like the mob. Comcast Sports SouthEast color man Lamar Thomas, a former player from the combat gear days, gleefully exclaimed: "You come into our house, you should get your behind kicked. You don't come into the Orange Bowl playing that stuff. You can't come over to our place talking noise like that. You'll get your butt kicked. I was about to go down the elevator and get into that thing."

Good job, Lamar. Go get 'em.

Monday, former Miami wideout Michael Irvin told a national media outlet that the players involved deserved more than a one-game suspension. But Irvin said but he didn't agree with critics who believe Brandon Meriweather (stomper) and Anthony Reddick (helmet swinger) should be gone for the rest of the season. Irvin also said that the program doesn't need fixing; he simply said that the 'Canes needed to win games and these incidents won't happen. Ya think, Mike? That will solve all these issues?

ACC commissioner John Swofford handed out the pesky one-game suspensions, but Miami president Donna Shalala said she was satisfied with the penalties.

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But after much media scrutiny and an outcry for harsher punishment, Miami and the ACC suspended Reddick indefinitely. You get the feeling that if Swofford turned a blind eye to the incident, Miami would have likely done the same.

If there's a humorous spin to this story, perhaps it's the irony involved. At the game in which the brawl broke out were more than 700 inner-city youths were invited thanks to a program called "Join a Team, Not a Gang." Hmmmm.

The fallout from this will be ugly. Coach Larry Coker will be gone by season's end, and most of his staff will go with him. And while players interested in Miami don't seem to be fazed by the brawl, parents are.

"My brother called me and told me he'd disown me if I sent his nephew to Miami now," said the mother of one of the Hurricanes' top defensive targets who wished to remain anonymous. "It's still his choice, but I doubt Miami will get past the family."

"I am not comfortable sending my son into that environment," said another parent of a top Miami target on the condition of anonymity. "The program seems to have lost control and it's going to take quite a turnaround to fix things."

Perhaps former Hurricane Andrew Berry, whose son Damien is committed to the Hurricanes but looking around a bit, summed it up best.

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"As a former player, it disturbs me greatly," said Berry, who is now a minister. "That's not what it's about wearing the U. There's a line you don't cross and it was crossed. It puts a black mark next to the program again. I know it can be turned around and I'm confident it will be, but there have to be some tough decisions made."

Parents of recruits will be making those tough decisions on whether Miami is the place for their sons.

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