Take Tuesday: Amateur Edition – Making Sense of Pitt vs OK St.

Arthur W Mueller

I need a hug. Between the Pitt game at Oklahoma State and Ohio State receiver Noah Brown’s insane catch at Oklahoma, I’m in a pretty weird place right now. Fortunately, I’m not the only one struggling. Fox Sports entertainment property Skip Bayless tweeted “Doesn’t really matter now, but I thought Joe Mixon had stepped on the goal line before he let go of the football on the TD return.” Even my mom (thanks to Ben Roethlisberger’s QB sneak touchdown in Super Bowl XL) can tell you that a touchdown is when the ball crosses the goal line. It doesn’t matter if a player crosses the goal line with his foot or his hand or a body part he is using to honor Harambe. It’s interesting that Fox would pay someone upwards of $5 million per year who doesn’t know basic rules of football. It isn’t as bad as paying Josh Norman $15 million to not cover Antonio Brown, but it’s pretty bad. Also, does anybody know if Fox Sports is hiring?

Anyway, the college football games in Oklahoma this weekend have me needing hugs. First, there was the Pitt game against Oklahoma State. Now I’ve seen Pitt lose before. I’ve seen Pitt lose to teams like Youngstown State and Akron. I’ve seen Pitt lose to teams like Florida State and Notre Dame. This is the worst Pitt loss I have experienced, not because of who Pitt lost to but because of how Pitt lost. The way I feel about this game is probably the same way Ciara feels about Russell Wilson; I had to wait forever for it and then it turned out to be really underwhelming. The game was actually pretty good before the lightning delay that lasted almost two hours. We already knew Pitt wasn’t good enough to stop Oklahoma State from scoring, but they slowed them down just enough to stay in the game. It wasn’t pretty, but Pitt found a way to make the game respectable. Pitt was gritty, finding a way to stay in it. When play was halted with 12:55 remaining in the fourth quarter, the game was tied at 38. Then the lightning came and it was all down hill from there. Pitt had a two-hour break and the only play they could draw up in that time was jet sweep. It seemed as if Pitt’s fourth quarter game plan was to have Oklahoma State lose the game rather than to win the game. Pitt was playing like they had a two score lead instead of a tie game. I know that between the field conditions and the long delay that offensive skill players might have difficulty making plays. I know that Pitt is missing Dontez Ford. I know that Pitt coaches don’t have a lot of confidence in Nate Peterman. Please do something on offense. I’m not as upset with the Pitt defense as some people are. They recovered two fumbles and forced seven punts. They allowed 14 points in the second half. There was one unfortunate play where a defender slipped and Oklahoma State scored the game-winning touchdown. Pitt will be fine in the long run. They start conference play this week at North Carolina. This is when the games really start counting. Hopefully now that we are in conference play, Pitt can show us a little more on offense.

The other thing that’s got hugs on my mind is the insane catch that Ohio State’s Noah Brown made for his third of four touchdowns on Saturday night. It’s hard to make any catch while a defender is interfering with you, let alone a catch where you have to catch the ball and the defender. There wasn’t a flag thrown on the play, but every hug-catch should be pass interference because it requires the defender to arrive before the football (to get inside of the hug), and not turn around to make a play on the ball. Either way, the hug catch is sure to be the next big thing in football, and it is only a matter of time before Odell Beckham Jr. is trying to get Eli Manning to throw an accurate enough pass to a defenders back so that he can show off.

In other news, Louisville destroyed Florida State and I’m absolutely hopping all over their bandwagon. Lamar Jackson is the best player in college football and Louisville is the best team in college football. I’ll probably end up being disappointed, but it’s fun to get way too excited too early in the season. Lamar Jackson has another season after this before he is ruined by the Cleveland Browns, so it should be a fun ride.

Here is my top 25, presented without comment. Feel free to add your comments below.
1. Louisville
2. Ohio State
3. Alabama
4. Houston
5. Clemson
6. Stanford
7. Michigan
8. Michigan State
9. Florida State
10. Washington
11. Texas A&M
12. Miami (FL)
13. Baylor
14. Wisconsin
15. Arkansas
16. Tennessee
17. Georgia
18. Florida
19. Nebraska
20. LSU
21. Texas
22. Oklahoma State
23. Utah
24. UCLA
25. Wake Forest