Who is setting fire at USC? In the last week, more scandals and firestorms have been fought by the University's public relations team than the whole of the southern California fire department during peek season.

The first flare up came with the arrest of quarterback Mark Sanchez on April 26th for allegedly sexually assaulting a female student. Way to celebrate your spring game debut, Mark. The evidence and allegations must have been convincing considering he posted the $200,000 bail. That's a pretty expensive quarter of college, if you ask me! Granted, Sanchez has not been formerly charged with the crime, and he should be thanking his lucky stars that Duke Lacrosse players, the NFL Draft, and fellow teammate Reggie Bush have created a welcomed diversion to pull the unflattering spotlight off of his allegations. Speaking of Bush...

Just days before the Draft, potential NCAA and NFL violations have been raised to the appropriate parties concerning a smarmy deal between a start-up marketing agency and the Bush family. According to the LA Times, a lawyer for New Era Sports & Entertainment was planning on filing a $3.2 million law suit against the Trojan and his family for various grievances, including a supposed $100,000 "loan" the agency gave to the Bush family with the assumption that all would be repaid when Bush signed with the agency as their first client. The loan included cash payments and rent on a house that the agency owned by an investor who wanted to represent Mr. Bush.

For the record, the name of the wannabe Bush agent is Michael Michaels. Um...call me crazy but the guy's name alone would be the deal breaker for me. I mean, the minute I'd meet the guy I'd be sitting there trying to conceal my giggles. How smart or savvy could this agent be with a name like Michael Michaels? Maybe he figured with all the previous superstar agents named Michael, such as Michael Ovitz, Michael Rosenfield, and the marketing bastard who DID sign Bush named Michael Ornstein, Mr. Michaels thought he'd keep it consistent by duplicating his own name. Could his parents not come up with anything more original? If it were me, I would have changed that name faster than Lindsay Lohan changes the color of her hair. Secondly, I would join the bandwagon and take up Kabala and choose a last name with a Yiddish appeal since most superstar agents and a majority of Hollywood elite flock to that calling. Seriously, did this guy think that he would really score Reggie Bush as his first and only client? Would you, a Heisman winning NFL prospect worth millions sign with Adam Adams of the 'Let Me Be The First To Profit Off You' Agency? Case closed.

Generally, when one suit is brewing, you can bet a counter suit is in the works. A lawyer for the Bush family claims that Michaels and the agency were attempting to extort money from Reggie. You can't blame Mr. Michaels for getting angry when his dirty deal backfired in his face. Sure, he gave the Bush family a generous loan, a $750K rental house to live in, and promised to keep the details hush-hush, but when his future client turned the table on him, Mr. Michaels went public with the details.

The Bush family isn't completely innocent in all this either. They had initially promised to repay the loans and back-rent once their son cashed in on his million-dollar NFL pay day. Talk about dangling a carrot before the horse. I guess they didn't see the potential NCAA or NFL violations in the matter. I'm sure at the time poor Reggie just wanted to see his family taken care of and didn't mind playing the role of a puppet. It was his parents who really took advantage of the situation and used their son as a bargaining tool. There's the crime. But the truth is, because the deal was so sketchy, it's easy to cry "extortion!"

To top off the week, in other potential NCAA violations news, Matt Leinart is now in the hot seat. It seems that once he became the big man on campus, his off-campus residency became a flocking ground for groupies and fans. Concerned for their son's safety, Pop Leinart moved his son to a "modest" downtown apartment with fellow teammate Dwayne Jarrett. For a mere $3,866 a month, the two split a portion of the rent while Pop Leinart picked up the rest. Where the violation comes to play is that Mr. Jarrett was paying $650 a month for his half the rent while Matt paid $500 and Pop paid the remaining. Now it would be okay for Matt to have that sweet rental deal, having his dad foot the bill is legit; but it's not okay for Dwayne since he was paying for less than half of the rental and therefore relying on Pop Leinart (a non-relation) to pay the rest.

This violation seems pretty innocent. I don't think the Leinarts had any intention of breaking rules; they were just generous parents taking care of their son and a friend. I know that my parents would have done the same thing for me...but I doubt they would have sprung for such a swanky bachelor pad. It is viewed as a potential violation because if the NCAA investigates, they could say that this apartment arrangement for a fellow team member gave him an unfair advantage. Now honestly, if living in a $3,866/month apartment gave Dwayne Jarrett a huge boost to his playing ability, how does one prove that? I won't even go there.

What should really keep USC fans awake at night is the potential fallout these allegations could bring if proven correct. Since all infractions occurred during the 2004 and 2005 seasons, if Bush is found guilty, he would be deemed retroactively ineligible for last season, games would be forfeited and title could be revoked. (Irish eyes must be smiling!) Wow. Not that you can rewrite history, but what would that have meant for last season's football? Can you imagine? That's an entirely different blog posting.

There is no denying that Bush is an outstanding player and regardless of allegations, his performance against Fresno State is one for the godfather of sports highlights. As a fan of a team who witnessed the fallout of NCAA violations (OSU Men's Basketball) and seen championships ripped away from walls, I hope that it doesn't come down to that for USC. Although Pete Carroll may be running a loose ship, his players as a team made significant strides in college football and a team should not have to suffer the penalties at the hands of misguided adults and greedy entrepreneurs.

Although I would have loved to see a rematch between OSU and Texas in last January's Rose Bowl, I don't want to see USC striped of their glory. I'm not condoning the actions of individual players, but when taken to the field, these kids made history and deserve for that history to remain in the books.