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Well, the big box networks helped college football finally get it right. Note the following according to The Athletic/The New York Times (basically one in the same these days):
That underutilized piece of real estate, Labor Day weekend, was finally exploited. That gap between the final NFL exhibition game and last Thursday’s NFL season opener did not disappoint.
Someone told me, “That 14-7 game doesn’t look like it was pretty to watch.” Ohio State being on the right side of the scoreboard did make it sweeter, but it was an afternoon for some amazing defensive play. If you want x-box scoring, tune into the Big 12 (are they still a conference?).
It’s notable there were six college football games throughout the 2024 season where viewer numbers exceeded 10 million.
Noon, Saturday is back in televised college football. I’ll look ahead to see how much the rest of the noon lineup measures up for the rest of the season. For now, though, I still think of those Ohio State fans grousing about not being on the prime time 7:30 p.m., or the popular 3:30 p.m. afternoon slate.
I guess it didn’t matter.
I have a few more college football thoughts from last weekend.
Thank you, Texas Christian University (TCU) for the beating you put on North Carolina galvanizing my position that in the Brady-Belichick era was mostly… Tom Brady. Belichick without Brady is a coach who has become increasingly insular by draggin’ the same inner circle everywhere in recent years who has a 44% winning record without the GOAT, whose wake it is increasingly apparent he was swimming in for the second half of New England’s mighty run.
Arch Manning, Texas’s much ballyhooed quarterback, and the latest on-field entrant from football’s Royal Family to take the field, will get better, but Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian has his work cut out for him.
More on Arch… the memes started rolling out at halftime, most notably an AI depiction of Peyton and Eli Manning in a Manning-cast environment noting – after watching Arch muff a play – “he’s (expletive) adopted.”
You wonder if the Brothers Manning had these tech world hawks flying around then they were playing, how many times (in Peyton’s case for example) then-Florida Coach Steve Spurrier’s snarky, “You can’t spell Citrus Bowl without ‘UT’.”
In Eli’s case, what memes would be out there while he navigated the draft waters to avoid landing with the (then) San Diego Chargers?
It’s a tough world out there for high profile athletes.
The most elite and high-profile college athletes are making more money each season in school than most of us will make in a span of years. They’re now pro athletes enrolled in college, so the heat many media would have held off from applying to them is fair game.
Will media and fans stick to more critical analysis of playing mechanics, ability to product in clutch situations, and an athlete’s leadership, or will they take the low road?
It’s important to keep things in perspective, though. Stalking players, harassing family members of these athletes – gamblers facing losses have been behaving the worst lately – is still completely uncalled for.
The NFL schedulers set up a masterful first two weeks of regular season play.
There are quarterbacks facing their former teams, divisional dog fights right out of the gate, an AFC West “champ vs. contender” opener last night in Brazil (Kansas City Chiefs - a run of AFC West titles in their trophy case – and the San Diego Chargers, a team Jim Harbaugh will make increasingly competitive before he inevitable wears out his welcome with the front office.
Enjoy a fun-filled, action-packed NFL Sunday, folks. The Shield has come for their piece of weekend real estate.
