Paula Levine

This us-against-the-world mentality would only grow stronger after an NCAA corruption scandal hit the football program in 1995.

University of Miami players reportedly took cash prizes for big plays in violation of NCAA rules.

The accusations became part of Miami's lore.

There were out of control football dorms, run ins with the police, trips to strip clubs on official visits, money, sex, drugs, you name it.

The NCAA banned the Canes from playing in a bowl game for one season and hit the team with other sanctions.

Their probation undermined the team's standing in performance for a while.

But the talent pool of recruits was still strong.

By the end of the decade, the Canes were back.

By 2001, Miami fielded what many consider to be the best college football team of all time.

Those early 2000s Miami teams had guys like Ed Reed, Jeremy Shockey, Santana Moss, Willis McGahee, Devin Hester, the list goes on.

These were the teams Brian was watching as an elite recruit at Miami Central High School.

In 2003, when Brian was a high school senior, he and his brother Edrick watched Miami play Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl.

We watched the championship game.

When they lost, he started to cry.

The Buckeyes win.

That game cemented Brian's decision to become a Hurricane.

From the players and coaches all the way down to the athletic trainers and equipment managers, there are a lot of people who make up a powerhouse college football team, easily 200.

You can feel that when a game is about to start.

Waves and waves of people pack onto the field.

It's part of what makes college football so different from other sports, the sheer numbers.