What started as a blog post at the St. Pete Times has been picked up by the Tampa Tribune with multiple articles, some of it starting to investigate USF's knowledge of all of this.

According to the Tribune, Moffitt's wife went and spoke to the school about it. This story is denied by the university, but correlated through the account of a witness who saw the discussion take place. To take it a step further, the Tribune followed up with an article after retrieving a total of 9 papers from Shauna's personal computer. The University says there is no cause for investigation and there is no way to prove that Ben didn't take the online classes.

Side note: I don't know about you, but I remember having to show up in person with a student id to take online class tests. This was the same lack of common sense that plagued FSU, and likely plagues a lot of other schools. That seems to be issue #1 that needs to be addressed. Not just at USF, but in general

The liability USF just assumed by denying any investigation -- even a quick glance over/write off -- is amazing. They better be 100% sure these charges are false and that there isn't any other cheating going on that the media will uncover. If so, they now have documented reluctance to even bother with the most basic of investigations from what seems like fairly credible accusations.

We'll see if more and more media outlets start picking up on this story. Right now it seems to be nothing more than a local one.

"Why should the media be reporting this?"

It's a fair and reasonable question. This is, after all, a divorce, and divorces can get pretty messy. Not to mention it's all pretty accusatory even with the evidence, and we have no idea of Ben's side of the story.

Here's the kicker. The school promoted Ben as the shining example of USF athletics on national T.V. broadcasts, in national newspapers (remember the NY Times and ESPN puff pieces?), and in national awards. It was a well marketed, heart warming story.

"Linebacker. Leader. Husband. Father."

The truth, of course, was that Moffitt rode his first marriage all the way to graduation and the NFL only to file for divorce before the big pay day. While national awards were being lobbied for, Moffitt and his wife's relationship had already fallen apart. The school made Ben a public figure and now the people who were sold the story are finding out that it wasn't all that true. Hell hath no fury like media scorned. That and, you know, it's the off-season.

Combine it all with the rampant cheating at another nearby state school, and you have the perfect recipe for a story. Top it off with a sprinkle of university denials like this, and it would seem to have the potential to grow:

Even with this information, Gullette said, "there's really no change at this point" as far as the university is concerned.

"The information we have is information we're getting from reporters," Gullette said. "There's not much to do at this point."

USF President Judy Genshaft would not comment on how the allegations might affect the school's academic credibility, and she referred questions to Gullette.

Ken Cissna, chairperson for USF's Department of Communication, said he couldn't comment on students because of privacy issues. Moffitt is a communication major.

Ken's absolutely right about the privacy issue, but for the rest of it, USF better hope there isn't much to this and that someone doesn't uncover something else over there. The kind of liability that USF is assuming is the same kind that the NCAA doesn't take lightly to.

As the Sarasota Herald put it, USF is invoking the "Roger Clemens" defense. The question is which local journalist is going to play the role of George Mitchell?

Wowza.

If this weekend didn't prove the complete worthlessness of polls, then nothing will. Going forward, I think we're still in for some "adjustment" with the rankings. Something just doesn't feel right, and that's based on more than simply seeing USF at #6 ;)

Go SEC teams with Tiger mascots. Gotta enjoy watching grown men cry up in the swamp over a loss to Auburn. After the ref's hit Auburn with 30 yards in false penalties during the final minutes, I was glad to see the game go to the right team. UF may very well be looking at 3/+ losses this year. Call me crazy, but FSU has the same record right now, only their one loss came from an actual ranked opponent. ;) *chomp*

USF beat the crap out of WV Friday night in front of their first ever sell out. I really do think USF is a very good team, but it's hard not to wonder if the Big East will ever decide to play someone of substance out-of-conference. It's really hard to get a sense of how good they might be when there's not a single top 10 (maybe not even a top 25) OOC opponent on anyones schedule. Everyone loves to knock the ACC, but those teams are actually playing people. You don't earn respect from an inflated ranking. You earn respect from knocking out quality OOC opponents.

ESPNU just picked up the USF/UCF game for October 13th though. If the Knights can handle ECU the way they've been playing everyone else, we may have a decent OOC barometer for the big east. Should be an interesting afternoon. Thing is, UCF didn't look all that impressive against ULL (Hold on to the ball, Knights!), and ECU just surprised Houston.

Don't look now, but the Big10 suddenly looks strong again. OSU vs Wisconsin is shaping up to be interesting.

ND still sucks.

Texas finally succumbs to their suckatude. It's only going to get harder for the longhorns. If only they could look forward to playing ND.

Oklahoma, the team that was giving me nightmares for simply looking so nasty, lost to Colorado. Thank god I'm not all that big on gambling, I would have taken OK at 97 1/2.

If Southern Miss is Conference USA's flagship, the conference is in deep trouble. Boise took `em to the woodshed.

Not college related, but how about Daunte giving it to the Dolphins? I like the `phins and all, but man, good for him. Fun to see him find a little redemption in all that mess.

Games to watch next week - LSU vs. Florida: Predicted highlight: Dorsey choke slamming Tebow, nailing him with an elbow drop and pinning him for the three count and the intercontinental title belt. ECU vs. UCF: Predicted highlight: Kevin Smith runs from the 1 yard line all the way back to Orlando. In the first quarter. ECU 17, Kevin Smith - 645 miles.

Man alive. What a great weekend of college football.

Typically, week one football is a mess. I guess, this year was no exception, except the outcomes were a bit different than usual. If you live here in the States and still don't know about the Michigan game, then you really need to consider canceling your WoW account and joining the rest of us in laughter. Suckers.

I had started the season thinking we could see another Big 10 vs SEC match up in the national championship. Ohio State has lost a little bit of its punch this off-season, and really, that only leaves big blue in the conference. Everyone else sucks (you heard me, Wisconsin.). The SEC, for the record, will be represented by LSU, not Tim Tebow (you heard me, Sentinel staff).

Turns out I was completely wrong about Michigan. Maybe Wisconsin does have a chance in the Big10. LSU vs USC in the NC game would be a media field day though, and may finally settle that tired debate once and for all (pac10 is overrated). I should make it clear that I'm not mentioning LSU over and over because I'm a fan of them or the SEC -- in fact, I'd enjoy nothing more than watching the SEC beat each other into irrelevance. It's just LSU's defense looked dang fast the other night.

ND got blown out by Ga. Tech, which makes Baby Jesus very happy, regardless of what TD Jesus has to say about it.

FSU lost to Clemson. I'm not sure what FSU did to justify a top 20 ranking, they finished the season last year completely out of it and then fired 5 of their coaches. If nothing else, their first half on the football field was going to be ugly as sin -- which is exactly what happened. The ACC should be fun to watch this year though. Clemson, Ga Tech, Wakeforest all have non-traditionally strong teams. Va. Tech showed weakness, FSU and Miami are rebuilding. I thought the OK/Miami game would be Randy Shannon's official coming out party, but after OK knotched up 70+ points on their cupcake opponent, I'm not so sure. Miami beat Marshall, but not by 70.

Cal over Tennessee -- pay back's a bitch.

UCF over NC State was absolutely thrilling to watch. The knights learned how to run to the ball and tackle. UCF developed a tolerable pass rush, and their corners are even better. Kyle Israel and his WR's need to work on their pitch and catch a bit though, because the defense looked beat up and tired in the second half. Kevin Smith can't do everything, even if he is a monster. An absolute monster.

Some big games coming up this weekend -- can't wait to see the Auburn/USF game, notably.

We're here at B&S Daily Market for our likemind/coworking friday. We just created a College Football Pick'em group on Yahoo for any Orlando folks who want to participate. Fantasy football is just to time consuming for me, so.. Pick em allows you to just pick the winners of the top25 games each week. Low time investment.

If you want to join, here's the details:

Group: O-town Bloggers (ID# 18899)
Password: football

You don't have to really be a blogger or anything, I just couldn't think of another name on the spot ;)