After last Tuesday’s College Football Playoff rankings show, in which unbeaten Cincinnati dropped two spots after not playing while twice-beaten Florida dropped just one spot having lost at home to unranked LSU, Tim Brando was furious. The Fox play-by-play man, with more than 30 years in the sport, stared at his television screen in Shreveport, La., and declared, “Enough!”
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“I’m no longer calling it the College Football Playoff,” Brando told the B.S. last Thursday. “I’ll only refer to it as the P5 Invitational.”
Brando, the original host of ESPN’s College GameDay in the late 1980s (his sidekick was Beano Cook), loathes the glass ceiling that the selection committee has imposed on Group of 5 unbeatens such as Cincinnati and Coastal Carolina. On Tuesday night he took to Twitter to pound the gavel for the sport’s have-nots, and he has yet to let up.
Committee in the @CFBPlayoff is no longer even subtle about their Power 5 Bias! Absolutely CORRUPT! @GatorsFB loses to a 3-5 LSU team at home and drops 1 spot! @GeorgiaFootball over rated since the jump, and @GoBearcatsFB keep dropping? There’s no I repeat NOTHING but corruption!
— Tim Brando (@TimBrando) December 16, 2020
As avid a proponent of the sport as you’ll find, Brando understands that his stance is not designed to draw consensus. “The fans of the brand programs are defiant against me,” he says. “But if you’re a fan of the sport, you want to see it more fair. College football is not about betting lines — of course Alabama would be a huge favorite against any Group of 5 school — it’s about a way of life. Our way of life versus your way of life. It’s tribalism in its purest form, and it’s totally accepted.”
The one game that Brando was unable to watch this season but that he made sure to DVR? BYU at Coastal Carolina. “I thought it was the best game of the year,” Brando says. “But ultimately, it did not matter.
“There’s a smugness about the people who decide ‘who’s in’ — the two worst words to creep into our sport,” he says. “It’s like, ‘I don’t care what you’re asking, this is the answer you’re getting.’ And after a while it begins to smack of more than smugness. It smacks of corruption.”
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Agree with him or not, Brando’s candor is rare among on-air types. This may be what happens when you’ve got three decades of experience and your network does not televise the College Football Playoff. Still, a contrarian view from a talking head is always welcome. If you want to hear more from Brando, just scroll through his Twitter feed from the past six days.
Tom to go
If you read Richard Deitsch’s piece on Tom Rinaldi’s impending exit from ESPN for Fox, Rinaldi’s CAA agents approached Fox last February to inform them that his contract was up at the end of the year and that he could be wooed. Eventually, Fox made Rinaldi an offer (“The financial part of it, I’ll keep that private,” Rinaldi told Deitsch). Now imagine CAA approaching ESPN with this competing offer from Fox, as the WWL is on the cusp of laying off 500 staffers— roughly 10 percent of its work force — in early November.
It’s most likely that ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro made a business decision (“No”), which compelled Rinaldi to make his career decision (“Go”). Will anyone from ESPN or Rinaldi’s camp cop to this on the record? Doubtful.
Another question I’d ask: Were the emergence of Pat McAfee, Maria Taylor and Gene Wojciechowski as not-ready-for-desk-set players on “College GameDay” beginning to rankle Rinaldi? McAfee is every fan’s Chris Farley, a role Rinaldi could never play. Taylor relates better to players. And Woj, an inveterate scribe and former walk-on at Tennessee, is a more than competent storyteller. Did Rinaldi not like having all of those other kids in his sandbox?
Rinaldi, 50, is an outstanding interviewer and a polished storyteller. No doubt. And I know that I stand decidedly in the minority here, but I have long detected a noxious whiff of emotional manipulation in Rinaldi’s pieces, too many of which focus on cancer. They can be cloying. Saccharine. And yes, to me, insincere. Like a rock star who releases an album of nothing but power ballads. Ultimately, the main character of most Tom Rinaldi features appears to be … Tom Rinaldi.
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When Rinaldi sits himself across from an embattled figure, as he did with Urban Meyer in his final tempestuous season at Ohio State two autumns ago, he is terrific. As ESPN talent goes, only Jeremy Schaap or Bob Ley could equal him. Too often, though, we sit and watch a Rinaldi piece, think of the “Bart’s People” episode of “The Simpsons”, and wonder if Rinaldi is using this as his template.
Rinaldi had an excellent gig at ESPN and, through talent and diligence, had carved out an estimable niche for himself in 19 years there. If this New Jersey native simply craved a change, or was experiencing a Horace Greeley moment (“Go west, young man”), that’s understandable.
If you read between the lines, though, it sounds as if Rinaldi felt the marriage had grown a little stale and started flirting with Fox. Then, before he knew it, Fox was talking about moving in together. While Rinaldi wondered what to do, ESPN handed him his trench coat and suitcase and wished him good luck.
Fox’s college football crew is no stranger to ESPN emigres: to wit Rob Stone, Bruce Feldman and, most recently, Emmanuel Acho. The difference is that none from that trio had left an indelible imprint at the WWL before heading to the Left Coast. Rinaldi has. It’ll be interesting to see how his act plays in La La Land as opposed to Disneyland.
Rinaldi did not appear on ESPN’s four-hour Sunday selection show.
“Army wins, but they should be worried when they play Space Force next week.”
— College GameDay celebrity picker Joel McHale with the topical humor
The Cadets did win, eking out a 10-7 victory versus Air Force to finish 9-2. Army is now 35-15 (.700) in its past four seasons under Jeff Monken.
Meanwhile, a day earlier Space Force announced its own name, which will be Guardians. Guardians of the Galaxy, get it? USSF also released a logo, which is familiar to anyone old enough to have dumped quarters into an Asteroids machine as a youth.
Today, after a yearlong process that produced hundreds of submissions and research involving space professionals and members of the general public, we can finally share with you the name by which we will be known: Guardians. pic.twitter.com/Tmlff4LKW6
— United States Space Force (@SpaceForceDoD) December 18, 2020
Rece Davis Saturday Factoid
GameDay’s emcee informed viewers early that Clemson-Notre Dame would be only the fourth rematch between teams in-season in which both opponents had been in the top 5 both times, dating back to the advent of the poll era in 1936. “In all four previous rematches,” Davis intoned, “the team that lost the first game won the second game by at least 21 points.”
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The final from Charlotte? Clemson 34, Notre Dame 10.
Where’s Pat?
If you’re looking for a way to gauge how long this 2020 season has seemed, here’s a name from the past for you: Pat McAfee. In September the jocular McAfee’s remote appearances on College GameDay, from his home in Indianapolis, acted as adrenaline surges for the three-hour broadcast. The erstwhile West Virginia (and NFL) punter was soon making multiple appearances in one show, banging his hammer and affably baiting the show’s designated gambling expert, Chris “Bear” Fallica.
Peak McAfee might have occurred when our own Bruce Feldman banged out a 6,700-word profile of the burgeoning TV talent in late September. And then? A few weeks later, exactly which Saturday we are not sure, McAfee went Lt. Col. Markinson from ESPN’s flagship college football broadcast. Vanished. Without a word.
McAfee, married last August, has his fingers in a few different ventures. Just two weeks ago he participated in a WWE event and he also hosts a daily weekday radio show. Still, if you were his agent, would you not be importuning McAfee to carve out a Saturday morning window to appear on College Gameday? That is, assuming you are welcome there?
Behind the wheel, behind the mic
While we will never realize our ultimate coach-in-transport interview wish — “Live From Bobby Petrino’s Motorcycle” — GameDay’s tracking down of newly hired Illinois coach earns a Martzke-esque “Hustle Award.”
The upper left bug “live from Bretts Car”. I’m dead. Hahaha @jimmyg44 producer of year. pic.twitter.com/PyZmUovh4Q
— Jill Montgomery (@Jill_Montgomery) December 19, 2020
And yet, Rece Davis and the gang missed a plethora of opportunities with Bielema, who was about to embark from northern New Jersey (he has spent the season as a New York Giants assistant coach) to State College, Pa., to watch the Illini play Penn State. For instance, Will you install an E-Z Pass offense? Are you using the seat warmer? Is this a “December To Remember”?
“When you play in the SEC, you have to bring your ‘A’ game almost every week.”
— Nick Saban, Alabama coach, appearing on College GameDay
You have to love Saban’s attention to detail here. He said almost. It’s like that Twitter game: Tell me you know Vanderbilt without mentioning Vanderbilt.
Bear market
A few of the reasons Chris Fallica (“Bear”) works so well on Gameday: 1) he’s the antidote to every full-maned, well-spoken, 30-something-inch waist male who appears on the show, 2) he does his homework and 3) he good-naturedly takes the ribbing. So it was funny on Saturday when Kirk Herbstreit noted that Bear was just 21-20-1 on the season with his expert picks.
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For the record, Bear went 1-1-1 on Saturday (Clemson -11.5, Tennessee + 14, Iowa State +6) to finish the season 22-21-2. If you’re scoring at home and noting the vig, that means that if you had placed $10 on every Bear bet this season, you’d be $9 in the red cumulatively.
The B.S. wonders …
First Elon Musk announces an exodus from California to Texas (a Texodus?), then the Rose Bowl follows suit a week later? Hmm … If someone should not, as a companion to the Lombardi Award, create the Rocky Lombardi Award and bestow it annually to the quarterback whose team beats Michigan but loses to Rutgers? … … Speaking of “ashes of tradition” anarchy, who moved the Dr. Pepper Challenge to a basketball court? And why wasn’t the SEC Championship Game’s Dr. Pepper Challenge tweaked so that each contestant tossed shoes? … Is “Fansville” America’s No. 1 comedy? … Fun fact and don’t be surprised if it shows up as an AFLAC trivia question one day: The actress who plays the mom on those Fansville ads, Kate French, graduated from the same high school (Westhampton, N.Y., Beach High) as College GameDay’s Chris Fallica. …
Did you notice that the B1G championship was played with an Indianapolis Colts logo at midfield, “COLTS” in each end zone and a quarterback named Peyton? … Did you notice that both Clemson’s Amari Rodgers and Alabama’s DeVonta Smith mentioned in pre-game pieces that they each catch 100 passes after practice? Do either of them start over if they drop one? … When Northwestern runs the Wildcat formation, as it did multiple times on Saturday, should announcers not refer to it as the Eponymous formation? … Did you notice, when ABC showed stock photos of Iowa State’s last conference champion squad (1912), that one of the Cyclones’ opponents were not wearing helmets? …
Who looked more unblockable this weekend, Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeuax or Oklahoma’s Perrion Winfrey?… Is it impolitic to suggest that the Rose Bowl was Jerry-mandered? … Matt Campbell is an outstanding young coach and all, but Saturday was not his best day. The Iowa State helmsman lost his sh*t and went full “Temecula!” on a referee for not flagging Oklahoma for offside late in the first half — the Sooners were not. On the Cyclones’ potential game-winning drive in the Big 12 Championship Game, his offense’s last three snaps included two false starts and an ill-advised, hurried play that resulted in an interception and was borne out of sideline confusion…
Wrong sport, I know, but where else are you going to learn that Baylor women’s basketball won by 93 points on Friday (Northwestern State) and then by 93 points again on Saturday (McNeese State)? … Is there a more accurate sports analogue to college football’s upper echelon the past decade than men’s pro tennis? Alabama and Clemson are Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal (your choice as to who’s who) with Ohio State right behind as Novak Djokovic. And yes, this may mean that Oklahoma is Stan Wawrinka but at least Wawrinka won a grand slam. OU, despite its four appearances in the playoff — same number as the Buckeyes—has yet to win a game. …
Where is that island in the All-State commercial (and does it have an AirBnB)? … Will Alabama quarterback Mac Jones win the Heisman Trophy as the fourth-most outstanding football player on his own unit (behind DeVonta Smith, Najee Harris and Alex Leatherwood) and has there ever been a more convincing indictment on the award’s integrity? … Have you ever seen an acute accent in a college football end zone before, because one appeared in the Mountain West championship game in Las Vegas:
🐴🔥 @BroncoSportsFB won't go away! pic.twitter.com/Mg0p7MqY1z
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) December 20, 2020
“The Aggies are in. They’ve punched their ticket.”
— Brian Jones, CBS’ pregame show
The certitude with which BJ said this after Clemson eviscerated Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon was breathtaking. Granted, CBS is the home of SEC football and Jones did play his college ball in the state of Texas, but that was the thinnest of limbs to climb out upon.
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Midnight run
Our colleague at The Athletic, Bruce Feldman, two-fisted coffee in between TV appearances this weekend. “I drank more coffee (Saturday) than I ever have in my life,” reports Feldman, who moonlights as a Fox insider.
Feldman was in Fox’s Los Angeles studio for Friday night’s Pac-12 championship game coverage, then returned for Saturday morning’s “Big Noon Kickoff” coverage (commencing at 7 a.m. local time). “I got home by 10 p.m. Friday night and my son was still up and wanted to talk about the game,” says Feldman. “I didn’t fall asleep until midnight, woke up at 3:30 a.m. and was back in the studio by 4:30 a.m.”
It’s difficult enough to function on less than four hours of beauty sleep. Appearing on television after that little rest is extra arduous — and taxing on your makeup person.
“If that’s the rule, they need to change the rule. He’s making a football play.”
— ABC’s Sean McDonough, after Iowa State safety Isheem Young was tossed on the second play of scrimmage for targeting against Oklahoma wideout Drake Stoops.
🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/wgyWNX3CjS
— Sooner Gridiron (@soonergridiron) December 19, 2020
Considering the sacrifices players have put in this year in order to be able to play, i.e., to make money for their schools and television, ejecting Young so early in the biggest game of his life seems inordinately cruel and petty.
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) December 19, 2020
Young did not lead with his helmet and really, is it his fault that Stoops lost his balance? College football has some glaring inconsistencies. For instance, Notre Dame’s Bennett Skowronek was flagged for an illegal blindside block in the ACC championship. An hour or so later, Alabama’s John Metchie was not flagged for a more vicious blindside tackle, during an interception return, in the SEC championship. Gary Danielson of CBS and your humble writer of the BS came to the same conclusion simultaneously:
You can't blindside block, but you can blindside tackle.
— John Walters (@jdubs1966) December 20, 2020
Not that we believe Metchie should be penalized. We don’t. We just don’t understand why blindside blocks are illegal.
As for targeting, many have advocated for a two-tier system of penalties and we agree. Malicious intent, and yes that is subjective, merits an ejection. A play such as Young’s deserves, at worst, a 15-yard flag. Frankly, we don’t believe this play should have been flagged at all.
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Now let’s move on to goal-line penalties, which have long been unequally weighted. You’ll note that in the past few weeks both Oregon and Alabama goal-line defenses have either lined up or jumped offsides when the ball is inside the 1. And why not? What’s the downside?
Our solutions:
1. On any defensive off-side penalty inside the 2-yard line, the offense gets an extra down. So if you jump offside on 2nd-and-goal from the one, now it’s first-and-goal from the one.
2. On an offensive penalty when the offense is pinned in its own end, the defense has the option of taking half the distance to the goal or simply moving the chains back the ordinary penalty distance. Hence, if it is first-and-10 from your own 13 and you are flagged for holding, now it’s first-and-20 from your own 13 with the 33 now being the line to gain.
This isn’t hard, is it?
Making it rain in Indy …
That's one way to throw a flag 😅 pic.twitter.com/5sMhxBhONX
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) December 19, 2020
“Why did Sermon leave OU?”
— Gus Johnson, Fox
“I’m blanking on his name right now.”
— Joel Klatt, Fox
This was refreshing. We had wondered to ourselves two weeks ago during the Ohio State-Michigan State game why Buckeyes running back Trey Sermon had transferred from Oklahoma. Gus and Joel did not address it as Sermon rushed for 112 yards, but on Saturday, as he was galloping for an astounding 331 during the B1G championship game, it seemed more pertinent.
Klatt can be forgiven for blanking on this — though isn’t this what spotters are for? — but he was able to explain that Sermon believed he’d be second on the depth chart (behind Kennedy Brooks) and chose to transfer. The irony, of course, which Klatt mentioned, is that Brooks opted out before the season began and so Sermon probably would have been starting for the Sooners this season.
As it happened, the grad transfer did not start for Ohio State, either, this season (Master Teague has), but he just broke the school record for single-game rushing yardage. On a campus on whose grounds Archie Griffin and Eddie George have walked and run, that’s something special.
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And the winner is …
There should be an award for Outstanding Individual Play of the Year (three, actually: one each for offense, defense and special teams) and this should be one of the nominees:
BRANDON JOSEPH ARE YOU KIDDING
— PFF College (@PFF_College) December 19, 2020
Not all bad
Let’s take a moment to appreciate a few things that would never have happened were it not for the pandemic: Army-Navy being played on post; mouth-watering inter-conference matchups, veritable football blind dates, being scheduled on less than a week’s notice (e.g. BYU-Coastal); a woman, Sarah Fuller, scoring in an SEC game; and a natural white-out in Beaver Stadium.
No fans means no need to get rid of all the snow inside Beaver Stadium. Insert whiteout jokes here. pic.twitter.com/jvwzg8SNuy
— Ben Jones (@Ben_Jones88) December 19, 2020
Prime time is nap time
During ESPN’s Sunday selection show, ABC Saturday Night Football’s Chris Fowler wondered aloud when karma would turn. When, he asked, would the gridiron gods send a suspenseful game — or at least third quarter — the way of himself and partner Kirk Herbstreit? (to that end, count on Fowler and Herbie calling the Clemson-Ohio State semi … and yes, Herbie has familial ties to both institutions).
It’s bizarre considering that ABC aims each week for the most compelling matchup between ranked teams available (excluding contractual obligations conferences/Notre Dame have with CBS, Fox and NBC, of course), but Saturday Night Football in 2020 has been one long snooze. Like watching Beth Harmon take on a roomful of sportswriters in chess.
An overview of the Fowler-Herbstreit broadcasts, dating to Week 4 of the season:
Florida State 52, Miami 10 (42-point margin)
Georgia 27, Auburn 6 (21)
Clemson 42, Miami 17 (25)
Michigan 49, Minnesota 24 (25)
Ohio State 38, Penn State 25 (13)
Oregon 35, Stanford 14 (21)*
Wisconsin 49, Michigan 11 (38)
Oklahoma 41, Oklahoma State 13 (28)
Notre Dame 31, North Carolina 17 (14)
Clemson 45, Virginia Tech 10 (35)
Clemson 34, Notre Dame 10 (24)
There have been plenty of thrillers this season — Penn State-Indiana, Oklahoma-Texas, BYU-Coastal Carolina, LSU-Florida and just about every UCLA game come to mind. It’s just that Fowler and Herbie have yet to call one.
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*Adding insult to injury, Herbstreit appeared on GameDay at Notre Dame the morning of the Nov.7 double-overtime thriller between the Irish and Clemson (whose roster includes his twin sons), then had to jet 2,200 miles west to call this Pac-12 snoozer.
Stripes on a swivel
I don’t think this is what announcers mean when they say that the referees are imposing themselves on the game too much, but still, these dudes need to work on their ball awareness:
WATCH OUT, REF 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/aM1iZIolgY
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) December 5, 2020
… and …
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) December 20, 2020
Drinking in the moment
— Wendy Starkel (@StarkelWendy) December 20, 2020
This is San Jose State quarterback Nick Starkel vamping for the skycam at Sam Boyd Stadium. The Arkansas grad transfer is having fun, and why shouldn’t he? In his final season of college ball Starkel led the Spartans to a 7-0 season, the school’s first undefeated season in 81 years.
On Saturday night Starkel passed for 453 yards and three touchdowns (with no picks) as SJSU ended an 0-for-14 series drought versus Boise State with a 34-20 victory, capturing the Mountain West Conference championship.
Rece Davis Sunday factoid
Alabama has been slotted No. 1 in the Playoff each of the four even-numbered years of the event. In the three previous times the committee seeded the Crimson Tide No. 1, they failed to win the championship.
“If there were 13 football coaches in that room making the decision, it would be a different decision.”
— Brian Kelly, Notre Dame coach
Shortly after the Irish were awarded the fourth and final spot in the Playoff, Kelly appeared on ESPN’s selection show. When host Rece Davis asked Kelly about whether the number of games a team plays should have factored heavily into the committee’s rankings in this season of the pandemic, Kelly was forthright.
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Davis, to his credit, pounced through the open door. “How would the decision be different?” he asked.
Kelly, who had spent much of the past week eschewing diplomacy and practicing candor (and, in the case of the Rose Bowl issue, situational hypocrisy), spoke to the Ohio State conundrum without addressing the Buckeyes by name. He said that coaches understand and appreciate, particularly in 2020, what a grind it is week after week after week. And that it’s plenty more difficult to avoid a single letdown through 10 or 11 weeks than it is through six.
He’s right. But Ohio State is still one of the country’ top four teams. For what it’s worth, both Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and Alabama’s Nick Saban echoed Kelly’s sentiment when they appeared later (then again, they’d rather not play Ohio State). Ryan Day, shockingly, felt differently.
As for Kelly’s situational hypocrisy, did you ever think you’d hear the coach of the Notre Dame football team decrying “the ashes of tradition” as Kelly did last Thursday? Sure, you want your players to be able to perform in a bowl game in front of their families. But did it really only take four months of membership in a conference to suddenly forget that his school’s major calling card is tradition?
Eye Test vs. Smell Test
On-air pundits can debate whether or not a team passes the eye test, or whether that term even belongs in the conversation, but we increasingly find the Kirk Herbstreit-Dabo Swinney relationship to fail the smell test. As if something stinks here.
To be fair, it’s a delicate situation. Swinney is head coach of one of college football’s two titanic programs. Herbstreit’s two oldest sons play for him. So we understand, to a degree, when during Sunday’s selection show Herbie lobs Swinney a softball question: “What type of topping are you putting on your pizza?”
On the other hand, Herbstreit has ascended to be arguably the most powerful and influential college football personality at ESPN. Who’s going to cross him? So when Clemson’s James Skalski taunts Notre Dame tight end Michael Mayer as he’s laying on the ground, the victim of a targeting hit from teammate Nolan Turner, Herbstreit must do better than saying, “That’s out of character for Clemson.”
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Uh huh.
In much the same way that Herbstreit is recused from picking a winner in the game that he is calling later that day (to avoid the appearance of bias and thus, impropriety), is it fair to ask how much he needs to recuse himself from calling Clemson games? Or opining on them? If we, as viewers, are told to accept that Herbstreit’s integrity in such matters is beyond reproach, then why is it not beyond reproach in terms of picking a winner for that night’s game?
I don’t think Herbstreit would call a game any differently if he simply stated who he believes will win. Neither do you. And of course he has an opinion. So if he is not able to comment on that, isn’t it a little odd that he’s allowed to call Clemson games, and comment on the integrity of Clemson’s program, and use his position to toss easy questions at Swinney?
One more thought on all of this: Near the end of Swinney’s interview, he shifted into “aw shucks” mode and asked, “Isn’t this great?” Swinney then allowed that a lot of Americans are hurting right now and it’s great that “we’re able to give them football.” You’re not giving anyone anything, Coach. You’re being paid $9 million a year to perform a job. We do enjoy your product. We also like our iPhones, but no one presumes that Tim Cook is giving them to us.
The Pac is still wack
Before the final play of Stanford’s incredulous, double-overtime 48-47 win at UCLA Saturday night (a play that was itself a replay of a failed two-point conversion nullified by offsetting penalties), yet another stoppage of play occurred. The referee blew his whistle and Cardinal coach David Shaw walked onto the field with arms outstretched (the universal “What now?” gesture).
After a brief silence, ESPN’s Beth Mowins explained the delay. “I’m told it was an accidental touch of the button upstairs,” she said.
Pac-12 football, you magnificent bastard! Not one of your schools even sniffed the top 10 this season, but no conference has been more entertaining. Albeit in an abbreviated and anarchic fashion. The Bruins blew a 14-point lead at home with less than three minutes remaining even after recovering — and nearly scoring upon — Stanford’s onside kick. In Salt Lake City the Utes trailed Washington State 28-7 at halftime and then went out and blanked the Cougars 38-0 in the second half.
In Corvallis, in the final pre-bowl FBS game of the season, the Beavers deployed this bit of trickeration …
OSU trickeration. pic.twitter.com/DD0hVllgB2
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) December 20, 2020
… and even scored on the game’s final play, but still lost to Arizona State.
Note that all three of the aforementioned contests kicked off a full day after the Pac-12 championship game was played between USC and Oregon (a stand-in for Washington, which was forced out due to COVID-19 issues). And if you missed the post-game trophy presentation, we’d like to think it was the most chaotic and undisciplined thing we’d seen in awhile, but then, we’d just spent three hours watching the Trojans play. You know?
— Minddestroyed (@Minddestroyed) December 19, 2020
The Pac-12: Nowhere to be seen in the “Who’s In” conversations, but atop the list of “Who’s Intriguing.” Never change.
(Photo: Steven Branscombe / Getty Images)
