On Saturday night, I watched a sport that has suffered more self-inflicted punishment than any other.
Between administrators with anything other than best interests in mind, athletes who seem to care only about money, hard-to-find events on random streaming services, terrible scheduling decisions — both awful matchups plus weird locations for premier contests — and just a general disdain for lifelong fans, it’s amazing how what I sat down to watch remains so eagerly anticipated in the sports world.
College football? No, I’m actually referring to boxing and the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Terence “Bud” Crawford megafight Saturday evening featured on a spare TV at Cowenstan National Stadium alongside day’s usual college football games … but I could easily be talking about our favorite hangover-inducing Saturday sport.
The parallels between the two are eye-opening.
For three-fourths of the 20th Century, boxing stood as one of the top spectator sports in the country. Arguably behind only baseball, boxing’s popularity dwarfed football, basketball, soccer — anything you could name. Since its inception in 1954, Sports Illustrated featured boxing on its cover 189 times.
Since Y2K, however, there have just been five SI boxing covers, with one concerning the death of all-time great Muhammad Ali, whose boxing heydays were in the 1960s and 70s.
Boxing has slipped precipitously within the national conscious since the 1970s, much because of its own doing. As stated above, boxing has leaders only worried about their own self-interests (I see you Don King and Bob Arum), weird television homes (raise your hand if you’re subscribed to something called “DAZN”), odd times and locations for fights (because, of course, I’d love to watch a fight between two American boxers live at 10 a.m. Saturday from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) and a cynical view of its own customers ($99.99 for a pay-per-view package featuring a world champion against a tomato can that achieved sentience and managed to lace up boxing gloves? Sign me up!)
Wait.
It all sounds so familiar.
I mean, the parallels with college football are obvious, from the greedy conference commissioners, to weird neutral sites for games, to the continued enshittification of the entire sport.
Somehow, the cultural grip college football has on us remains unabated as recent television ratings prove. There isn’t, however, some God-given right that college football HAS to remain popular. Take a big sports fan from the 1950s, spin them in a time machine and drop them into the present, and he or she should would certainly be confused.
Where’s the horse racing?
Why isn’t baseball talked about non-stop?
How come boxing isn’t on the front page of the newspaper?
Where IS the newspaper?
The 1950s sports fan would find it unfathomable the “national pastime” of baseball is a DISTANT competitor to football in today’s landscape, while boxing is an also-ran, and horse racing is little more than background noise piped into a casino by a dubious distribution company.
My point is, things can change, so college football would do well to take heed from the fallen stature of boxing, especially when you consider the sordid similarities gurgling beneath the surface. If the powers that be fail to examine the “W” and “T” in their sport’s SWOT analysis, many Americans could decide to watch college football just once or twice a year for its biggest events.
That would create a big headache for all those who love the sport, which brings us to the hangover induced by witnessing the highlights of Week 3 of this year’s college football season!
- I honestly did not predict OU going to Philadelphia and kicking a lung out of the home Temple Owls in a 42-3 blowout. I really thought the Sooners would fart around, look bored and sleepwalk to an ugly, three-touchdown-ish win.
- Going in, I couldn’t help but think of the OU/Kansas game in 2021. The Jayhawks were terrible that season, finishing 2-10 (albeit with one of the funniest wins of all time when they pranced into Austin and defeated Texas). Still, when the Sooners arrived in Lawrence, Kansas, as 38-point favorites, nobody could foresee the level of ineptitude, disinterest and lack of discipline they would show that afternoon. It took a literal superhero-type play from OU freshman quarterback Caleb Williams to put the Jayhawks away in a 35-23 win that was much closer than the final score.
- I’m not sure I expected a similar outcome at Temple on Saturday as much as I simply feared it. Falling between two big home games against Michigan and Auburn — and taking place as a WEIRD road game at the home of the Philadelphia Eagles in front of fewer than 30,000 fans — the contest felt like a ripe opportunity for a letdown. Add in the fact Temple had showed spunk this season with blowout wins in the first two weeks — albeit over terrible competition — it all seemed suitable for a less-than-impressive outing from the Sooners.
- Well, OU was never threatened, bothered nor troubled at all. The Sooners scored on their first four possessions and completed a funky two-point attempt to take a Scorigami-weird 25-0 lead in the first half. The offense looked competent, the defense was dominant and, really, considering the circumstances and history I mentioned above, those facts alone should be good enough for any OU fan.
- Sure, there were issues. Wide receiver Keontez Lewis was knocked out of the game, and my guess is for longer than coaches are alluding, after a massive collision. The play wasn’t reviewed for targeting, which is befuddling to me as it seems college referees would review a particularly intense game of Tiddly-Winks for targeting.
- Speaking of which, OU star defensive end R. Mason Thomas was ejected in the third quarter for a targeting call. I’m not going to argue whether Thomas’ ejection was warranted or not — does anyone really know what “targeting” is at this point? — but after the officials were completely nonplussed by the play where Lewis was injured, it seemed a bit disconcerting to see it called on Thomas.
- Thomas’ ejection means he will be suspended for the first half of next week’s game against Auburn. I’d be stunned if Lewis will play at all (he probably shouldn’t). So, that’s two (one-and-a-half?) starters down for the SEC opener against an undefeated Tigers team.
- Maybe I still have scars from last season, but I have a wait-and-see attitude about the Sooners this season, even as OU goes 3-0. I could nitpick about the somewhat-inept running game, or the less-than-impressive deep passing game, or how opposing receivers have popped open more times than I’m comfortable, but it would truly be nothing more than quibbles.
- If the Sooners handle Auburn next week as well as they did Michigan last week, then it might be time for me to climb fully on board the 2025 OU football train. Until then, however, I’ll remain in my 2024-induced PTSD cocoon.
- The most entertaining game Saturday happened in South Bend, Indiana, when Texas A&M snuck past the home Fighting Irish 41-40. Neither team’s defense covered themselves in laurels in the contest, but the biggest blunder came when Notre Dame’s holder fumbled the ball late in the game on an extra point. Thus, when A&M managed a last-second score, the ensuing extra point became the difference in the game.
- Only three weeks into the season, Notre Dame’s playoff hopes might have gone kaput. Meanwhile, the Aggies’ win places another feather in the SEC’s cap during the non-conference season.
- Tennessee seemed to be in control of its game against Georgia several times. Eventually, though, it came down to a 42-yard field goal in the final seconds. The Vols’ kicker devolved into the ancient animal known as “shankapotamus.”
- The BADLY-missed kick led to overtime where Georgia prevailed, 44-41. It’s hard to take any rock-solid opinions away from the game as it was so closely contested, except to say neither’s defense appeared as tough as it had been in previous seasons, and Tennessee is hexed when it comes to playing the Bulldogs.
- A massive fraud alert was issued in Atlanta as Georgia Tech nudged Clemson 24-21. Clemson was everyone’s choice to win the ACC and advance to the College Football Playoff. After three weeks, though, the Tigers are 1-2 and have looked shaky in each game. While an at-large playoff berth is probably out of the question at this point, there’s too many ACC games to count Clemson out of the conference title race. After three straight weeks of less-than-impressive play, however, it’s hard to believe in a Tigers turnaround.
- It was simply a bridge too far to expect South Florida to triple its early season success. After resounding wins against Boise State and Florida, the upstart Bulls finally met their makers, 49-12, at the hands of fifth-ranked Miami. I wouldn’t cry too much for USF, however, as the Bulls still possess the best combination of wins by any team this season, which will serve them well in the hunt for a playoff berth.
- In the annals of Texas hate-watching, Saturday became a smorgasbord for those who revel in the Longhorns’ pain. Texas didn’t lose … but it sure felt like it in a 27-10 win against a UTEP team that came in as 51.5-point underdogs. Texas quarterback Arch Manning submarined his previously so-so outings this season with a gasp-inducing 10-straight incompletions at one point, and just 114 passing yards total in the game. The performance drew jeers from his own fans.
- I would conjecture Arch Manning was fighting an injury, but I’m afraid Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian might delve into my toilet habits.
- I watched UCLA take the lead in the race to be the worst power-four conference team in the country on Friday night, when the Bruins were hammered 31-10 by visiting New Mexico. The Lobos had no business winning such a game after they lost nearly every player of note, including their head coach, from a mediocre 5-7 season last year. Still, they absolutely bullied the Bruins for nearly 300 rushing yards and probably left UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava wondering why he left the comfortable — and well-attended — confines of Tennessee.
- My man-crush, Diego Pavia, did unspeakable things to South Carolina on Saturday night, as his Vanderbilt Commodores crushed the hometown Gamecocks 31-7. It was the second straight three-touchdown road win over a favored opponent for Pavia’s Commodores.
- Pavia’s outing, coupled with Bowling Green’s 23-13 upset win over Liberty on Saturday, meant my fan-crushes on the Vanderbilt signal-caller and the Bowling Green Falcons’ official cat continue unabated. Lord, have mercy on my wife as I talk her ears off about both in the coming days.
- I figure about Tuesday or Wednesday, she’ll have a Diego/Pudge-sized hangover.
