Wanted: an adult in the room at the University of Kansas.
There were none available when someone should have wiped from existence a hype video that used the painful history of slavery and the Civil War as college football rivalry fodder. But it posted and went viral, and became a talking point after Missouri’s 38-21 win at Kansas on Friday. Teaching the history of the Jayhawkers and Tigers is fine; using them to talk trash in the sports realm is disrespectful and embarrassing.
So how about the chat rooms? Any adults there? College football fans generally want to side with the home team, even when they’d be screaming about the same thing happening at another school — looking at you, LSU fans — but yes, Message Board Monday found Kansas fans willing to be anonymously courageous and call out their own school after a series of decisions that should at least get someone reprimanded.
Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz ranted about the video after the game, and we’ll get to him in a minute. First, here’s part of the discussion he sparked among Kansas fans.
Ridjosh: Drink is such a tool. Trying to act tough and play the victim card at the same time. That hype video really got under their skin.
WestSideJayhawk: Our hype videos don’t get under anybody’s skin. In this case, they only contributed to our looking like amateurs and gave our rivals’ coach an additional opportunity to embarrass us.
GRockChalk: I disagree. The video got the rivalry national attention that people had forgotten. There wasn’t any national buzz before the game. If the argument is it made the team get beat worse, you have different issues.
WardHawk: I agree with the Mizzou side that trying to villainize them today because of Civil War stuff is pretty stupid. It’s a sports rivalry. Nobody is evil because of where they live or who they root for.
Hawkinmichigan: Except for people from Missouri. They suck.
Kudos to WestSideJayhawk and WardHawk for seeing this for what it is. Also, to Hawkinmichigan for making me laugh.
Meanwhile, Drinkwitz was on the right track when he said: “I was disappointed in the rivalry, the turn that it took today. I thought that was uncalled for, and this is about two teams playing football. … Everybody’s got complicated pasts, and to make that an icon was bizarre to me.”
And when he said: “It’s a football game. It’s an American football game. People love to come watch and cheer for their teams. It’s not even deeper than that. And I get there’s a past for it, but why are we stirring that bull crap up? It’s 9/11. This country needs unity now more than ever. And I was embarrassed for them, to be honest.”
End it there, Eli. Perfect. No notes. But did he end it there? Of course not. He tacked on: “That’s why I tried to embarrass them at the end.”
Oh, and he also said: “If they want to have a football game and play the football game, a great rivalry on the border, then awesome, let’s do it. But if they want to make it deeper than that, we left Kansas bleeding again and call it good.”
Oy. So close to the proper, needed response. Needed: more adults in the coaching profession.
Oregon fans freaking after Oklahoma State loss
The most stunning result of Week 2 and the most stunning two-week sample of a team we expected to be great both belong to the Oregon Ducks. As Stewart Mandel pointed out, the loss of both coordinators seems to be a real problem for Dan Lanning.
As you might expect, some Ducks fans are taking things to a dark, divisive place after a 39-31 loss at … Oklahoma State. Featuring some questionable Lanning decisions to go for it on fourth down.
BrentLakeO: A scary thought … I knew Mark Helfrich was done after that Nebraska game (in 2016) and his ridiculous insistence that the 2-point conversion attempts and fails were the right decision even after it cost them the game. I have similar thoughts with Dan continuing to say that his ridiculous fourth-down calls were the correct decision at the time. If that’s what he truly feels, I’m afraid it only gets worse from here.
BlackandYellow: Going for it on fourth down has been correct from a strategy standpoint. The issue is the play calling and execution. The whole point of going for it on fourth is that the strategy lets you steal possessions, retain the ball, score more points. But the strategy can only work if you execute.
BrentLakeO: Going for it from fourth and 7 from your own 30 down 5 on the road in the middle of the fourth quarter was the correct call?!?! In what world are you living, Madden 2027?
Craig S: This game informed me that Dan Lanning is done. Clear as day.
Any good news?
Stormin: We won’t be losing our coordinators after this year.
Steve Sarkisian, from blown out to blowing off Holly Rowe
It looked so bad for Texas coach Steve Sarkisian and quarterback Arch Manning, until it looked so good. That’s a win over No. 1 Ohio State that cuts into narratives. That’s what matters most to Texas fans — a precious result to sock away, the Manning comeback to hopefully propel him, redemption for the coach whose team was getting booed at home — and that’s what should matter.
But then Sarkisian followed up his halftime non-interview with a weird interaction with Holly Rowe, taking some attention off what his team just did. This is not the first time Sarkisian has been caught on camera acting petulantly. Much was made of the refusal to answer a couple of questions, which all coaches at this point understand is part of the deal.
But do Texas fans care?
No. Not the ones on message boards. That win leaves oxygen for nothing else. Also, this is one of those things where, if fans are totally satisfied with their coach and something like that happens, they might rally around him. Texas fans are thrilled with the win, but the side-eyeing of Sark continues in earnest.
To that point, some comments on Sarkisian from before the game flipped for the Longhorns:
HoustonHorn1076: “We are witnessing the end of Sark.”
Hornalum18: “Sark is Mark Richt.”
Cutaneoushorn: “I resisted the James Franklin narrative fiercely, but after tonight I am not as certain.”