which of these hypotheses makes the least amount of assumptions

this Ronaiah dude made a fake online profile and fooled Manti into believing Lennay was a real person

or

that Manti was involved in making up the fake girlfriend in an attempt to win the Heisman by getting some sympathy votes

included in the conspiracy are Ronaiah and his family, Manti's family, Notre Dame, etc...

I'll give you a hint

the first one has already been proven

because this Ronaiah dude used the same profile to fool other people

but the Deadspin article didn't go with that theory

they implicated that Manti was complicit in the scam

and chose the second theory

which as you pointed out, has yet to be proven

I just think they sensationalized the story by jumping to that conclusion in the original article

I don't think this would be so damaging to Manti

had they kept it simple

I mean people are putting his name in the same sentence as Lance Armstrong

c'mon