College Football Sunday Summary: Taking a Knee and Watching Our Tone
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At Last Word, we know what a live mic looks like, and we know how to take a knee as we give you the college football Sunday Summary.
College Football Sunday Summary: Taking a Knee and Watching Our Tone
How Did He Not Know?
By now, everyone has seen what happened with and to North Carolina State quarterback CJ Bailey on Saturday. NC State was protecting a precarious three-point lead on the road against Vanderbilt, all while trying to drain the game clock, deep in their own territory. With five seconds left in the game, Bailey retreated into his own end zone to move around and run out the clock.
What he should have done was take a knee, or even better, run out the back of the end zone. The Wolfpack would have lost the two points on the safety. And they would have had to kick it away to Vandy. But they would have still had a one-point lead with only a second or two left.
Instead, he got hit while running around, fumbled, and the ball was recovered by Vanderbilt for the game-winning touchdown.
Two things here. Bailey is not a freshman playing in his first season of college ball. He is a junior and a returning starter getting paid roughly $1.5 million in revenue-sharing money by NC State. How did he not already know to just take a knee back there? And more than that, how did no one on the coaching staff make certain that he knew that? I mean, it’s pretty much their job to do that. The post-game press conference made it pretty clear that no one did that.
Act Like Fools, Get Beat Like Fools
Have we not all learned already that we should assume there are cameras and recording devices everywhere in our society? Is it possible in the heat of the moment some college football players, getting amped up to play, would forget that?
The Colorado Buffaloes were playing on the road against Northwestern on Saturday. Northwestern has been using a temporary stadium for about a year, while their home stadium, Ryan Field, gets the finishing touches on an $850 million rebuild. The Wildcats have been playing their home games at Martin Stadium. It is a beautiful setting by Lake Michigan, but with a 12,000-seat capacity, it hardly has the feel of a major college football facility.
As they were getting ready to come out of the tunnel for the game Saturday, the Colorado players got amped up, not by verbally propping themselves up or trashing their opponents. Instead, what they shouted was, “This place f-ing sucks!” “This place is like a f-ing library!” Of course they used the full language, and of course there are television microphones at the tunnel.
Their arrogance could not keep up with Northwestern. The Wildcats beat Colorado like the players had overdue library books, and Mr. Bookman was on the case. Northwestern-41, Colorado-7.
Learning the Ways of the Locals
Rutgers is having another tough season. The Scarlet Knights are 0-3 after losing to USC at home on Saturday.
Greg Schiano was a controversial hire to begin with when he took the job for a second stint back in 2020. Saturday’s loss drops him to 43-89 in Big 10 play since his return. It’s not all on him. Sure, the poor coaching part is on him. But Rutgers and Big 10 football are just not meant for each other.
There is a 60 Minutes-style stopwatch going on his tenure at the State University of New Jersey. But here is where the story gets nuts. Local media outlets are reporting that there are talks ongoing between Rutgers and Brian Kelly. Yes, the same Kelly who tried to pull off a Bayou accent when he got the head coaching job at LSU. And it was embarrassingly bad.
Brian Kelly in New Jersey? We looked for places in the Piscataway, NJ area where they could teach Brian the proper accents to fit in with the locals. Couldn’t find one. We did reach out to an online service (Advanced Accent Training) that could provide Coach Kelly with private tutoring, but with a caveat. The primary Rutgers campus is in the central part of the state. But there are satellite campuses in the northern and southern parts of the state. And of course this means three different dialect accents. Time to get to work, Brian!
Was Anyone Listening?
Anyone hear what was said after the Ole Miss-LSU game Saturday? Yeah, Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss dropped an F-bomb on live TV with Holly Rowe. But that’s not what we’re talking about.
We’re talking about Lane Kiffin, as if that is a surprise. The man does love to hear himself opine.
Of course, the Ole Miss fan base was particularly pumped up for the return of its former head coach, someone they now revile. The game would have been a sellout anyway with this match-up. But in his post-game press conference, Kiffin saw fit to give himself credit for the Ole Miss crowd.
“You walk in, it’s a buildup. The stadium is full an hour early; I guess I had to leave to get them to do that. So, you’re welcome,” Kiffin said with a Cheshire Cat grin.
Tough Sledding in Chapel Hill
It’s been a tough week for Bill Belichick. Oh, who are we kidding? It’s been a tough two years, starting with the day after he arrived to take over as head football coach at North Carolina.
Saturday was a new arrow to the heart. The Tar Heels were at Clemson, another beleaguered (only in journalism word) program with head coach Dabo Swinney taking his own hits. And Memorial Stadium had thousands of empty seats, a true rarity in the “good ol’ days.”
Maybe it was the faithful not happy with Dabo. Maybe it was the word of inclement weather looming. The crowd that was there made feelings known via voice vote. Clemson was down 17-3 late in the first half when he decided to kick a field goal on the last play of the half. The Clemson faithful were loud and clear in their booing.
That gap was down to 17-15 in the third quarter with the Tigers riding some momentum. Maybe in a week where Belichick’s son was forced to resign from the coaching staff as part of an internal investigation, Chapel Bill was going to catch a break with the divine intervention from Mother Nature.
Belichick does not have that kind of fortune at UNC. After a nearly two-hour rain delay, Clemson outscored UNC 14-3 in the fourth quarter to complete the 28-20 win.
Swinney took off his hat as he approached Belichick for the past game handshake pleasantries and conversation. Belichick walked over, gave a one-pump handshake, and walked off, clearly needing time to prepare for whatever crisis awaits him next back on campus.
Stories to Tell
Before we leave the Belichick week for now, have you heard? His former general manager and consigliere, Mike Lombardi, is starting his own Substack. We wonder if he will have any insights as to the last year or two.
The Tribute Section
We like to recognize schools that wear special uniforms from time to time for appropriate causes.
This week we tip our cap to the Baylor Bears. Earlier this year, several Baylor players made their way to the Baylor Scott & White McLane Children’s Medical Center. They brought drawings of the Bear mascot logo for kids to color.
The artwork of one patient, ILaria Ramirez, was a touchdown. She is a six-year-old from Cameron, Texas, and a cancer patient at the medical center. Her drawing was turned into a professionally made decal for Saturday’s helmet. And the decal included her writing, where she had written the words Faith, Victory, and Strength around the outer edges. She also gave it a name, “The Helmet of Hope.” It was on every Baylor helmet for Saturday’s game against LA Tech.
And a shoutout to The Sports Tap for supplying the photo collage below.
Main Image: USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
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