NCAA Week 2: Good Snark, Bad Snark
Published on 12-Sep-2016 by Alan Adamsson
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For the second straight week, it looks like a familiar bromide is in order.
This one's usually an eyeball-roller:
It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game.
However, for Oklahoma State, it's the moral to their Week 2 story. Bovada had you as 18½-point favorites, dudes:
OK, when all was said and done, the refs and replay crew shoulda checked Page 5.
So the officials are out a couple of paychecks, and the Cowboys are out a victory.
The Oklahoma Sooners already know how that works. They got roached 10 years ago at Oregon.
And a notorious fifth-down at Missouri 25 years ago propelled Colorado to a shared national title with Georgia Tech.
How this one plays out is anyone's guess. The main point, though, is the same. The Cowboys didn't play the game very well, stat-wise, score-wise, and eyeball-wise.
Better be turning the rest of your season up to 11, dudes.
Good Snark: Dammit, Jim, I'm a backup chucker, not a team captain ... What's it take to get the Tennessee Volunteers motivated? Apparently, not atoning for a putrid performance in Week 1. Not even a record crowd at Bristol Speedway.
With the Vols down, 14-0, fourth-string QB Sheriron Jones had seen enough. Dude strolled over to the o-line on the bench and demanded accountability.
45 straight points later, it seems he got it.
Bad Snark: Someone needs a scheduling app ... This could be another reason why Steve Spurrier turned in his keys early. What's South Carolina doing, scheduling two SEC games on the road before playing a non-con? Going 1-1 in their division and lucky to be that. Trello, anyone?
Good Snark: The nation is in good hands ... All three service academies have started the season 2-0. Given the weekend's remembrances, that's fitting. You're fighting the good fight, dudes.
And if you haven't seen it already, check out the Air Force's tribute to those Flying Tigers that reigned in the Big One:
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Bad Snark: It's sports, people! ... It's a great country that allows its citizens to stand or kneel whenever and wherever they want. Free expression isn't new, and the controversy it can generate isn't going away.
But there's a difference between disagreement and disallowance, and Iowa State's student government would do well to take a long look at nations that stifle and be thankful this one doesn't. Besides, the Cyclones play Baylor and Texas Christian every year, conservative private schools whose admins don't necessarily agree with abortion.
Where's the fine line here, kids?
Good Snark: The Ballage barrage ... Bless those halves of the Arizona State and Texas Tech rosters who are getting a free education by agreeing to line up on the defensive side of the ball. Their degrees will come in handy, because all of them will be going pro in something other than football.
123 points in one game? One football game? Say thank you, Kalen:
Bad Snark: It's how you tell 'em ... Troll this, Lane:
The Tide won, 38-10, but didn't cover the 30-point spread. That apparently means they didn't do enough stuff right. Someone had to pay, besides the 'Bama athletic department. The Hilltoppers took their whuppin' and got a cool $1.3million in appearance money for it.
Good Snark: The World Cup of Hockey ... This made-for-TV, pre-pre-season salve to puckhead jonesers everywhere features two teams composed of NHL players thrown together to complete the field. Sorta how Jacksonville State recruits.
The Gamecocks feature 17 FBS refugees on their roster, including one Roc Thomas, late of Auburn. It makes them a feisty foe to FBS programs like LSU, at least until a Bayou Bengal hero arises from the bench with LSU down, 3-0. For one series, anyway, dude lights it up:
Still, it's a tough crowd down in Death Valley, as in giving a C+ ranking for Ettling. Incidentally, dude's a Purdue transfer. As in that Purdue. Fill in the blanks.
Bad Snark: Holy Shots! ... What's with everyone dumping on BYU in Week 2, anyway? First, the kids aren't alright -- see above -- and then the refs go proactive PC on the Cougars with back-to-back targeting calls.
Really? Were these sorts of hits the primary intent of the rule?
The first player ejected was team captain Kai Nacua, probably BYU's best defensive player. Dude's now also out for the first half of Week 3's UCLA game.
Both his and freshman Andrew McChesney's absence didn't help the cause in their 20-19 Holy War loss to bitter rival Utah.
Good Snark: The extra-crispy Colonels ... Props to Nicholls, who gave Georgia all they wanted in a 26-24 squeaker. That's the type of Bulldog effort that got Mark Richt run outta town. Take heed, Kirby.
Georgia's a big school from a big state in the heart of football country. Kinda like Illinois.
And if that's not sobering enough, even if they get where they're trying to go, it's a tenuous job to stay there. Just ask Clemson.
Bad Snark: Mildcats again ... It's a return to the bad old days for Northwestern. First, Western Michigan. Now, Eastern Illinois. Coming up, schools that don't have compass points in their names. 2015's 10-win season seems like a distant memory already.
The hell of it is, it's been replaced by even more distant memories.
Snarkalicious: Déjà vu again and again and ... Yogi Berra was alluding to yet another foreboding bromide:
Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
One woulda thought Clemson's Ray-Ray McCloud might've remembered this little number from two years ago:
Then again, that's a long-long time ago in dog years. Or whatever.
Utah's Kaelin Clay wasn't the first. Ray-Ray surely won't be the last: