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Ever been watching pro wrestling and, in the main event, the referee gets knocked out? When the guy in the stripes takes a spill — Earl Hebner spent years doing it — you know shenanigans are afoot and something screwy is about to happen.
That’s how I felt late Saturday night, with my social media feed up in the background as I worked on the recap from the ETSU-Tusculum game. From the moment they signaled a review was coming in the Western Michigan-Michigan game, you just knew shenanigans were afoot.
Even the broadcast crew was left flummoxed by the decision to grant Michigan one second, and one more play. That general sense of bewilderment extended to the rules expert whose literal job is to explain and interpret the decisions of the officials during a game.
Now, am I suggesting some grand conspiracy by the Big Ten, or maybe the league and NBC cooked up a scheme to wrestle defeat from the jaws of victory by Western Michigan just in case the game ended on a last-second play? There would have to be a lot of moving pieces involved to pull that off, and people talk.
What I am suggesting is that perception is reality, and the perception of the review, Michigan being granted one second for one last play, and ultimately winning on the “Bail Mary” drives home the point that current college sports are engineered to put the big boys in position for the top honors.
Let’s start with revenue sharing, where teams in the mega conferences like the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten have access to resources that others do not. Those leagues also try to throw their weight around in college sports like no one else.
They want to expand their conference memberships to add more members, so they can grab bigger and better TV deals. They did it.
They want to expand the NCAA Tournament so more of their member schools have a shot of getting in the field. Done. We’ll be playing with 72 teams come March.
Now, talk of expanding to a 24-team field for the College Football Playoff, which the SEC has resisted … so far.
Michigan’s result over Western Michigan drives home the feeling that mid-majors and Group of 5 schools have no shot in the grand scheme of things because the power conferences make the rules. It’s “heads I win, tails you lose.” It creates the image that the decision makers for the SEC and Big Ten have their thumb on the scale, and frankly, shame on the Mid-American Conference for basically rolling over and showing its belly and not fighting for one of its member schools.
Tennessee
Vol fans have to be feeling better about things, after watching Tennessee waylay Furman and then seeing Georgia Tech sputter and struggle in a 14-13 loss at home to Colorado. Right?
The big question might be keeping Faizon Brandon healthy. As Steve Wilmoth noted on Sunday to me, designed runs by the quarterback are part of the Josh Heupel offense. They just feel riskier than normal given the overall circumstances facing the Vols. And the prospect of George MacIntyre, who is even more slightly built, making those runs is even more concerning.
FCS
Do you think ETSU feels better or worse about the way the defense played last week, after seeing Campbell and QB Kamden Sixkiller knock off Southern Conference colleague and nationally ranked Western Carolina on Sunday? Sixkiller wasn’t quite the stat monster he was against the Bucs, but close, completing 29 of 44 passes for 330 yards and two touchdowns, but also throwing three interceptions. It’s just the second time in Campbell history that the Camels have knocked off an FCS foe ranked in the top 25.
The Bucs host Western in three weeks to open their Southern Conference slate.
Announcements
The I and Tri Sports Podcast, a joint effort between our site and Tricitiessports.com, will make its debut next week after some technical difficulties with the recording earlier today. I think area sports fans will be entertained and pleasantly surprised by the podcast once we fully get rolling. If nothing else, tune in to watch my frustration dealing with all the technology and gadgets.
You can watch the podcast on our YouTube channel once the first episode debuts next Sunday, September 13.
We’re also excited to announce that, as part of the partnership between our site and Tricitiessports, we’ll be handing out a weekly Prep Athlete of the Week award throughout the school sports season. This is one athlete, across all sports, chosen every week. We’re a little behind while figuring out the logistics on the physical awards the athletes will receive, but we’ll be catching up and hitting the road starting this week.
The first two award winners already have been decided.
Brenna Overbay of Science Hill girls soccer won the award for Aug. 17=23, after setting the Lady Hilltopper career goals record in the first match of the season.
Kiante Harris, also of Science Hill, won the award for Aug. 24-30, after running for a school-record 367 yards in a 49-28 win against Morristown West on Aug. 28. The previous Hilltopper single-game record had stood since 1988.
We’ll be giving these deserving athletes their awards, and announcing this week’s winner, soon!