I suppose it was only a matter of time before the offseason hit a critical mass of stupid. Keep actual football out of the equation long enough and something ridiculous is bound to happen. Major conferences having their media days practically guarantees it.
And at the center of all the insanity was Urban Meyer attempting to respond to charges against Buckeye running back, Carlos Hyde.
If you weren’t aware, Hyde was named as a “person of interest” in the assault of a police officers daughter and Meyer suspended him indefinitely. You can probably guess what happened next: all the “oh look another Meyer player is in trouble with the law!” jokes. Also predictably, Gregg Doyle filled out his hackjob template and took Meyer to task, the same coach he praised as a perfect hire two years prior.
Then, the very next day, Yahoo! Sports had sources that video surveillance exonerated Hyde, making all the knee-jerk reactions seem beyond silly. Meyer faced the music on Wednesday during Big Ten media days. Then, because stories like this seemingly never end, yesterday a local Ohio reporter said she saw the footage and saw Hyde strike the girl.
Yes, within the span of 72 hours, we went from “URBAN MEYER HAS ANOTHER CRIMINAL!” to “oh…wait, maybe we jump the gun” to “uhhhhhh…is the outrage back on again?”
And this is what happens during the offseason. We are so starved for anything to break up the offseason bore, that when something juicy comes down the pipe, it’s almost impossible to resist. And if it’s seemingly snuffed out, oh no, let’s find some way to drag it back out again.
Personally, I have practically zero opinion on Hyde at this point. The guy is suspended indefinitely and the investigation is still pending. Just last offseason, we had Tommy Rees in a similar situation. Remember the similar outrage we read about then when Kelly wanted to let things play out? Yeah, not going to make myself a hypocrite on this one.
But the Hyde situation is just a taste of all the crazy that popped up this week. Seriously, the offseason needs to just end.
Get here soon, actual football. We need you.
The Roundup
So apparently barking like a dog will get you arrested. Yes, Florida linebacker, Antonio Morrison, was arrested for barking at a K-9 unit. The charges were dismissed, but, seriously?!
The no-huddle debate: serious business. Yep, Saban fired his usual shots again. Holgo fired back. Kiffykins even got involved as well and now I want ND to run 90 plays against Southern Cal this year just to piss him off further. Perhaps the best response is the whole situation came from Spencer Hall.
“After further review, the ejection is overturned, but the 15 yard penalty still stands. First down.” This is an actual thing that you will hear during college football games this season.
OU compliance must want to murder Stoops right about now. Been working hard to keep people in line to not tweet recruits? Silly compliance folk, your head coach just blew those efforts to hell. On that note: DON’T TWEET RECRUITS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!
Someone set up the Washington State/Kentucky grudge match, please. Because when you want to take shots at another conference, you should always fire away at the bottom of the barrel, right?
And now, some moments of zen. One of which, surprisingly comes from Michigan. And the other, well, it’s just another moment of Irish Chocolate being awesome.
The Beer
In honor of the debut of “The Irish”, I wanted to toss in an Irish beer into the Roundup. While stouts and red ales come to mind, I wanted to try to go with something that pairs a bit bitter with the hottest part of the summer. With that in mind, I’m going with Harp Lager this week.
Sláinte.
- Epilogue - January 3, 2022
- HLS Podcast Finale - January 2, 2022
- The Final Fiesta: Notre Dame vs Oklahoma State NCAA ’14 Sim - December 31, 2021
NDEddieMac
Stoops is a damn moron, but sadly even if he had come out vehemently against it, the idiots on twitter would keep up their “recruiting efforts.” The targeting penalty is going to be a problem this year. Sure safety is important, but adding more subjective calls that can turn the tide of multiple games (given the auto suspension if ejected) is ludicrous. Stupid NCAA being the worst at everything.
@thereidy
Nix didn’t lift the pool. The pool jump into that man’s vehicle because it was scared.
trey
Just to clarify, there is no NEW rule about targeting or high contact. The exact same rule that makes a hit legal or illegal is the same this year as it was last year. Officials are being trained to understand that and not go looking for calls to enforce this new rule. However, we are being asked to be more scrutinizing on hits that go too high. The only real change is the penalty enforcement, which, as youve noted, is able to be overturned by replay if the replay officials belives the hit was not targeting.
NDEddieMac
The EJECTION can be overturned, that’s it. The penalty yardage, even if they realize after review it wasn’t illegal, is still enforced. Also, look at the many people who said the CLOWNEY HIT, which was one of the greatest examples of form tackling around, would garner an ejection. My main issue is giving NCAA refs, who are by and large terrible, more ways to fuck up games is a terrible thing.