I don't know if this is what happened, but just to give you a sense of the difference between different programs and conferences...
I know a mother who has raised four scholarship D1 athletes. One was a QB for a highly ranked SEC team. She told me that when he was being recruited one of his schools was Miami. When they met with the athletic department they took him into the athletic academic support center and opened a large set of filing drawers that contained the past final examinations of all the "approved" courses for football players.
BTW, the SEC school he eventually went to had a list of three acceptable majors for football players. One suggested gen ed course for football players was a history course. She was told that football players were normally successful in that course. She got her son's grade report for the course and it was a D. When she called the academic support center they told her that was a normal grade, but it would be made up with higher grades in his 'major' courses. Basically, they sent football players into that class because they could be ensured of passing the course.
Reminds me of [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aot3MyQJUOY"]this.[/ame]
