Texas-Ohio State Classic Overshadowed by Postgame Drama

How quickly we forgot the incredible comeback Texas staged against Ohio State. The game lived up to its pregame hype. Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit were on the call. Two of the greatest programs in college football, ranked in the top four going into the game. This was college football at its finest. It was hands down the best games of week two and arguably of this season, decade, ever.

Great Football

It wasn’t even one of those crazy, furious comebacks that would just hit you in the face. Down 23-3, Texas barely converted a 4th down and 9 in their own territory. They headed into the 4th quarter with the same deficit but just started creeping away. There were no turnovers, no blocked punts or kick returns. It was methodical, fundamentally sound on both sides of the ball with another dramatic 4th down conversion. It wasn’t pretty but it was great old school grind it out football. 24-23 Texas in what I can say was easily one of the greatest college football games I’ve ever seen over half a century and believe me there were a lot of great ones. This one was right up there.

The Nonsense Continues

However, it was overshadowed by nonsense. We forgot that the game was more important than the postgame interview. Even more important than that — how many of you knew that Holly Rowe had just lost her mother? I didn’t, until I saw her social media post this week. It was a simple heartwarming post honoring her dear mom. She was saying her final goodbyes while idiots were getting upset that Arch apologized to her. Think about that for a second. We’re debating whether he owed her an apology or not. Really? Let’s get a subject matter expert to settle this debate for us: Arch Manning felt like he owed her an apology. End of story. End of debate.

We all must have opinions on everything, though. How are we going to get through the day without putting in our two cents over the most inconsequential or things that are absolutely none of our damn business? Most of the time they’re based on our narrow view of the world anyway. At the end of the day, we really don’t know everything that’s going on in other people’s lives.

Arch apologized to Holly. Was it the right thing to do? Who cares! It was a nice thing to do. Nowadays, however, nice things finish last in media coverage. A star quarterback showing compassion to a reporter. A reporter showing the deepest love for her mother.

I wish we could have a little more perspective. I wish we could appreciate that everyone else has their own set of problems and sorrows. I wish we could go back to these great games being the big story in college football. Last week, one of the greatest games ever played was overshadowed. This week we have LSU at Ole Miss, and we’re talking more about security detail for LSU Head Coach Lane Kiffin than the potential matchup between LSU CB DJ Pickett and Ole Miss WR Deuce Alexander, or whether LSU QB Sam Leavitt can outduel his Ole Miss counterpart, Trinidad Chambliss.

Go ahead and debate whether I’m a bleeding heart or a grumpy get-off-my-lawn old man, but I’ve had enough of this foolishness.